There is an open clash between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and M5S leader Giuseppe Conte, after the former prime minister’s hearing before the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the management of the pandemic. At the center of the political battle is once again the issue of Covid masks and the public money spent to purchase them, a dossier that continues to divide the majority and opposition years after the health emergency.
The money for Covid masks
The case revolves around the supply of protective devices by the Colleferro-based company Jc Electronics, led by Dario Bianchi. The emergency commissioner structure, at the time led by Domenico Arcuri under the Conte government, had blocked the supply considering the masks not to comply with the required standards.
However, the company sued the state. At first instance, the Presidency of the Council and the Ministry of Health were sentenced to pay approximately 203 million euros, in addition to default interest. Before the appeal, in October 2025 the Meloni government signed a settlement with Jc Electronics which closed the dispute for around 100 million euros, with the green light from the State Attorney’s Office.
The case reported by Conte
During the three-hour hearing at Palazzo San Macuto, Conte presented a file, received anonymously, containing a 2022 report relating to the supply of Jc Electronics. According to the former prime minister, elements emerge from those pages that would suggest devices with a registered model that does not correspond to the declared filtering effectiveness.
Conte also hypothesizes a possible “counterfeit representation” of the accompanying sheet. The document was delivered to the Rome prosecutor’s office “out of civic conscience”, claiming that it is “of public interest” to know whether the 100 million paid by the State correspond to counterfeit masks.
Jc Electronics defined the document as “not new”, claiming that it had already been examined by the judiciary in the first instance judgement. The company also recalled that the conformity of the devices had also been certified by Inail and the Customs and Monopolies Agency. Finally, he invited Conte to renounce parliamentary immunity if he believes he has “certainties” to support in court.
Government and former prime minister compared
In addition to the file on masks, the hearing was also a long self-defense on the entire management of the pandemic between 2020 and 2021: state of emergency, Prime Ministerial Decree and vaccination campaign, defended by Conte as necessary choices and not as a “health dictatorship”.
To the objections of the majority, which came mainly from Fratelli d’Italia with the interventions of Galeazzo Bignami, Francesco Filini and Alice Buonguerrieri, Conte responded by claiming to have acted “with discipline and honour” and challenging anyone to find any wrongdoing in his actions.
The Conte-Meloni clash
Outside the courtroom, Conte raised the bar by defining Meloni as “the director of these attacks” and challenging her to face him “politically” without “tricks”.
The Prime Minister responded on social media by rejecting the accusation of wanting to orchestrate a “firing squad” and reiterating that the commission is not “a trial of one person” but “a duty towards a nation that has paid a very high price”, defining the truth about the pandemic as “a right of Italians”.
On a political level, Conte then raised issues such as Delmastro’s chats and the investigation into Santanchè, claiming to have “answered for hours” while he asked the prime minister for “five minutes to respond to Italy”. The duel is destined not to end here, given that the second chapter will take place on 14 September, when Conte will return before the commission for the second part of the hearing.
