“This is just a down payment,” said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni about the €100 million distributed by the Council of Ministers last week, in equal parts to Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabria for the disasters caused by Cyclone Harry. 

She was keen to clarify this during a briefing in Catania to attempt to stem the controversies following her quick visit to the Sicilian town of Niscemi, where a massive landslide is causing anguish for 25,000 people who fear a total evacuation of the town (only rumored at this point). 

In Sicily, currently governed by Renato Schifani – with Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) party as the largest party – damage estimates are rising day by day: according to the Regional President himself, they will amount to over €2 billion, between infrastructure repairs and relief payments for entrepreneurs, fishermen, merchants, restaurateurs, hoteliers, and beach resort operators in the eastern coastal areas of the island who have lost everything.

The Prime Minister wanted to offer reassurances that more money would be coming, primarily to placate grumbling within her own government coalition. But she did not announce any further numbers – how much she will decide to add for the affected areas is still unknown.

It is unlikely that any of the cash in the Development and Cohesion Fund (FSC) will be made available. In the view of the Sicilian Parliament, which approved an........

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