Maltese taxpayers fork out €20,000 for Matteo Renzi participation in welfare conference

Matteo Renzi’s welfare conference speech in Malta cost €20,000, minister tells parliament

Former Italian premier Matteo Renzi addresses a Labour mass meeting in 2017 (Photo: Chris Mangion/MediaToday)
Former Italian premier Matteo Renzi addresses a Labour mass meeting in 2017 (Photo: Chris Mangion/MediaToday)

Maltese taxpayers forked out €20,000 for the participation of former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi in a conference organised by the Foundation for Social Welfare Services.

Renzi was invited to address the conference titled The Welfare State and Welfare Services: Present Challenges, Future Needs, held last April. The conference commemorated the 25th anniversary of the founding of FSWS.

Social Policy Minister Michael Falzon told parliament on Monday that Renzi’s visit cost €20,000. He did not give a breakdown of the cost, which presumably includes Renzi’s speaker’s fee.

Falzon was replying to a parliamentary question by Nationalist Party MP Claudette Buttigieg.

Renzi is a senator in the Italian parliament and leads the centrist party called Italia Viva, which he set up after breaking away from the centre-left Partito Democratico.

He was Italian prime minister between 2014 and 2016. Renzi is best known in Malta for his close relationship with former prime minister Joseph Muscat, whom he described affectionately as ‘Il mio amico Joseph’ (My friend Joseph).

Renzi had addressed a Labour Party mass meeting at the close of the local council election campaign in 2015, and again in 2017 for the general election.

According to figures tabled in the Italian parliament, Renzi earned €2.5 million in 2021, with a substantial part of his income derived from delivering speeches at conferences and acting as a consultant to organisations and private enterprises.