Eni founder’s heir clashes with Meloni government over name use
Italian government’s ‘Mattei plan’ for Africa is part of Rome’s efforts to curb migration
The heir to the founder of Italian energy giant Eni has requested that the Meloni government stop using the name of his late uncle for its flagship co-operation scheme with Africa.
Enrico Mattei, a partisan during the second world war, is revered in Italy for setting up the state company that challenged what he dubbed the “Seven Sisters”, a cartel that controlled most of the world’s oil reserves in the postwar era.
Mattei’s nephew and heir, Pietro Mattei, sent a legal notice to the Italian government this week, demanding it stop using the Mattei name for its programmes. The right-wing coalition’s approach was “the total antithesis” of Enrico Mattei’s views, in particular on migration, his nephew said.
Giorgia Meloni’s hostile attitude towards migrants stood in complete contradiction with Eni’s founder, who brought young people from abroad for training in Italy and then hired them in their home countries to work for Eni, the legal notice said.
“To use his name today to legitimise a politics that is in contradiction with the principles he represented is a grave offence to his memory,” Pietro Mattei wrote, warning that he would seek recourse to the legal authorities if the government did not cease and desist the use of his uncle’s name.
“The use of the name of Enrico Mattei for political aims that are against his values constitutes a violation of the right to historic identity and an unlawful manipulation,” he said.
Meloni’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Her government launched the so-called Mattei plan in 2023 as a means to tackle the root causes of migration by helping African countries develop more economic opportunities for youth.
Pietro Mattei’s complaint nearly three years after the policy was launched is seen as a new sign of the erosion of Meloni’s political standing, following a failed referendum to overhaul the justice system.
“It is very embarrassing because it’s her iconic flagship programme,” said Francesco Galietti, founder of Policy Sonar, a political risk consultancy. “I am not sure they would have come to the fore if she had not lost the referendum . . . This is but another of these episodes showing that people see her weaker.”
Enrico Mattei was known for forging strong bonds with energy-producing countries — offering them more money than the cartel — enabling them to clinch deals that eluded the established US and European players.
His death in a plane crash in Italy in 1962 is the subject of numerous conspiracy theories, including suspicions that the crash was organised by oil industry rivals bitter over how Enrico Mattei outfoxed them in the world energy markets and built Eni.
“In the aftermath of World II, Italy was in tatters and this guy with an iron will decided that the country could not do without its own oil complex,” Gallietti said. “He really quickly became a formidable challenger for the big oil sisters. He made so many sworn enemies.”
While the late oilman worked to develop Italy’s energy sovereignty in total opposition to the cartel of the Seven Sisters, Meloni’s government policy “seems to be characterised by a marked subordination to the US and its interests,” according to the letter written by Mattei’s nephew.
“It is an open contrast to the strategic independence that was the pillar of his vision.”
However, not all family members agree with the nephew’s complaint. His estranged sister, Rosangela Mattei, 77, whose son has been recruited to work for the Mattei plan, told the FT she thought her brother’s legal notice was “out of line”, adding: “I’ve even apologised.”
The two siblings have joined forces in a battle against Eni to try to recover some of their late uncle’s former property, including two valuable paintings.