The Italian nationalist party is trying to find out more about the amount of public funds received by the car manufacturer, in a context of tensions between its government and the Franco-Italian-American group.
The nationalist party of Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini launched a “operation truth” in particular to find out more about the amount of public funds received by Stellantis, in a context of tensions between the government and the world’s fourth largest automobile manufacturer. “The League launches the truth operation on public funds collected in Italy”announced the anti-immigration party on its social networks.
“Matteo Salvini’s party is ready for any parliamentary initiative – starting with a series of questions – to ask how much public money the group has received over the years, how many Italian workers have been laid off or made unemployed and how many factories have been opened abroad”he said. On Friday, Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares denounced the production costs of cars that were too high in Italy due to the price of energy, during a hearing before elected representatives of the Italian parliament.
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Tension has been rising for several months
“Why don’t we sell electric cars in Italy? They cost too much. We must make them accessible through incentives and subsidies. How ? It’s a decision that’s up to you. To support demand, we need significant incentives, otherwise we will not succeed”launched the boss of the car manufacturer, who will leave his post in January 2026. Carlos Tavares “should be ashamed and apologetic” to have “mismanaged a historic Italian company”replied Matteo Salvini, who is also Minister of Transport, on Saturday.
Tension has been rising for several months between the nationalist government of Giorgia Meloni and Stellantis, with Rome accusing the Franco-Italian-American manufacturer of relocating its production to low-cost countries, to the detriment of Italian factories. The government decided in mid-September to withdraw European public funds intended for the project of a mega-factory of batteries for electric cars in the south of the peninsula which was to be built by ACC, a joint venture of Stellantis, Mercedes and TotalEnergies. The group is also facing social threats, with a major strike planned for October 18 in Italy in the face of sharply declining production in the country.
