The viral speech of the “President of Italy” is fake

On March 24, a message attributed to the Italian president with the hashtag #Italian President was actively spread in the Armenian domain of Facebook, in which the latter allegedly announces that in the situation caused by the coronavirus the authorities will try to pay salaries from the state fund and will cancel water and electricity bills.

To give a more lyrical tone to these words attributed to the President, the authors spiced them with the following comparison: “It is true that the economy of Italy will collapse completely, but Italy must sacrifice itself for the sake of its people … In previous wars people were dying for Italy to live. In this war, Italy will die for the people to live.”

Of course, such words are hard to read without getting a dose of emotions, but there is one major flaw in the words of the President of Italy: it is not the words of the President of Italy.

Reviewing the speeches and messages posted on the official website of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, the Fact Investigation Platform found that the latter made a public statement on the situation created by the spread of coronavirus on March 5, calling the people to keep calm, adhere to the rules and trust the authorities. Later, in a note posted on the President’s website on March 12, we read that Italy is in a difficult situation and the President hopes that Italy’s experience in the fight against the spread of coronavirus will be useful to all EU countries.

In fact, the speeches and messages of Italian President Sergio Mattarella do not contain the words disseminated in the Armenian domain of Facebook.

Maybe it was the Prime Minister?

On March 21, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte made a speech about the worsening epidemic in Italy, and the creators of the “words” with the hashtag #Italian President were probably inspired by his speech.

In a speech addressed to the Italian people, the Prime Minister spoke about the damage caused by the coronavirus, announced new tougher measures, again urged people not to leave their houses and thus fight the spread of the virus, calling for working from home if possible, and so on.

The most notable part of the Prime Minister’s seven-minute speech is the following: “Although both the health and financial systems are disrupted, I assure you that the state is there, it is by your side. The authorities will do their best to restore what we have lost and move forward.”  But in spite of the statement circulated in the Armenian domain of Facebook, the Italian Prime Minister’s message also says nothing about canceling water and electricity bills, paying everyone’s salaries from the state fund, sacrificing Italy to enable the people to live.

Thus, French President Emmanuel Macron’s distorted speech has been replaced by the distorted version of the message of the Prime Minister attributed to the Italian President.

Sevada Ghazaryan

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