Editing Romano Prodi (section)

===Mitrokhin Commission===
In the 1990s, the séance matter was reopened by the Italian Parliament's commission on terrorism. While Prodi (then Prime Minister) declared that he had no time for an interview, both [[Mario Baldassarri]] (senator and vice-minister in two [[Silvio Berlusconi]] cabinets) and [[Alberto Clò]] (Minister of Industry in [[Lamberto Dini]]'s cabinet and owner of the house where the séance was performed) responded to the call; they confirmed the circumstances of the séance, and that ''Gradoli'' had appeared in several sessions, even if the participants had changed.<ref name="Guardian" /> Later, other Italian members of the [[European Commission]] alleged that Prodi had invented this story to conceal the real source of the tip-off, which they believed to have originated somewhere among the far-left Italian political groups.<ref name="Guardian" >{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/eurocommission/Story/0,2763,206412,00.html|title=Seance points to problem for Prodi|access-date=25 February 2007 |date=3 August 1999|author=Willan, Philip|work=The Guardian|location=UK }}</ref>

This issue came back again in 2005, when Prodi was accused of being "a [[KGB]] man" by [[Mario Scaramella]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/the-seance-that-came-back-to-haunt-romano-prodi-517786.html |title='Multiple attempts' on Litvinenko |date=22 January 2007 |work=BBC |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510133701/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/the-seance-that-came-back-to-haunt-romano-prodi-517786.html |archive-date=10 May 2008 }}</ref> The allegations were rejected by Prodi. Former [[Federal Security Service]] (FSB) officer [[Alexander Litvinenko]] also said that FSB deputy chief [[Anatoly Trofimov]] "did not exactly say that Prodi was a KGB agent, because the KGB avoids using that word."<ref>{{cite news |date=2007-01-23 |title=Prodi slams TV over spy claim |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-italy-prodi-idUKL2382491120070123 |url-status=live |access-date=2021-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112074044/https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-italy-prodi-idUKL2382491120070123 |archive-date=2021-11-12}}</ref> The same accusation was raised in 2002 by the [[Mitrokhin Commission]], which was closed in 2006 with a majority and a minority report, without reaching shared conclusions, and without any concrete evidence given to support the original allegations of KGB ties to Italian politicians contained in the [[Mitrokhin Archive]]. Led by the [[Centre-right coalition (Italy)|centre-right coalition]] majority, it was criticized as politically motivated, as it was focused mainly on allegations against opposition figures.<ref>{{cite web|last=Stille|first=Alexander|date=11 December 2006|url=<!--http://www.slate.com/id/2155274-->https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/12/the-secret-life-of-mario-scaramella.html|url-status=live|title=The Secret Life of Mario Scaramella|website=Slate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920123906/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2006/12/the_secret_life_of_mario_scaramella.html|archive-date=20 September 2018|access-date=19 July 2023}}</ref> 2006 saw the publication of telephone interceptions between the chairman of the Mitrokhin Commission, [[Forza Italia]] senator [[Paolo Guzzanti]], and Scaramella. In the wiretaps, Guzzanti made it clear that the true intent of the Mitrokhin Commission was to support the hypothesis that Prodi would have been an agent financed or in any case manipulated by Moscow and the KGB.<ref>{{cite news |date=30 November 2006 |title='Così la Mitrokhin indagava su Prodi' |language=it |work=Corriere della Sera |url=https://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2006/11_Novembre/30/mitrokhin.shtml |access-date=24 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=1 December 2006 |title=Mitrokhin, la magistratura indaga, l'Udc prende le distanze |language=it |work=L'Unità |url=http://www.unita.it/view.asp?IDcontent=61474 |url-status=dead |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929090954/http://www.unita.it/view.asp?IDcontent=61474 |archive-date=29 September 2007}}</ref> According to the opposition, which submitted its own minority report, this hypothesis was false, and the purpose of the commission was therefore to discredit him.<ref>{{cite web |date=16 December 2004 |title=Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta concernente il 'dossier Mitrokhin' e l'attività di'intelligence italiana – Relazione di minoranza sull'attività istruttoria svolta sull'operazione Impedian |url=https://www.parlamento.it/parlam/bicam/14/Mitrokhin/documenti/x4088.pdf |access-date=24 July 2023 |language=it|publisher=Italian Parliament}}</ref> In the wiretaps, Scaramella had the task of collecting testimonies from some ex-agents of the Soviet secret service refugees in Europe to support these accusations; he was later charged for [[calumny]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2108215.ece|title= Scaramella questioned in Rome over arms trafficking allegations|work=The Independent|date=2006-12-28|access-date=2007-01-24 | location=London | first=Peter | last=Popham|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906205842/http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2108215.ece|archive-date=2008-09-06}}</ref>

In November 2006, the new Italian Parliament with a [[Centre-left coalition (Italy)|centre-left coalition]] majority instituted a commission to investigate the Mitrokhin Commission for allegations that it was manipulated for political purposes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://today.reuters.it/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-11-28T141548Z_01_DIG850609_RTRIDST_0_OITTP-COPACO-MITROKHIN.XML |title=Archived copy |access-date=23 July 2023 |archive-date=30 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930185650/http://today.reuters.it/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-11-28T141548Z_01_DIG850609_RTRIDST_0_OITTP-COPACO-MITROKHIN.XML |url-status=dead }}</ref> In a December 2006 interview given to the television program ''La storia siamo noi'',<ref>{{cite episode|date=December 2006 |url=http://www.lastoriasiamonoi.rai.it/puntata.aspx?id=266 |url-status=dead |title=Licenza di uccidere?|language=it|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213061752/http://www.lastoriasiamonoi.rai.it/puntata.aspx?id=266 |series=La storia siamo noi|archive-date=13 February 2007 |access-date=23 July 2023}}</ref> colonel ex-KGB agent Oleg Gordievsky, whom Scaramella claimed as his source, confirmed the accusations made against Scaramella regarding the production of false material relating to Prodi and other Italian politicians,<ref>{{cite news |date=27 November 2006|title='Il gruppo della Mitrokhin voleva Prodi e D'Alema' |url=https://www.repubblica.it/2006/11/sezioni/esteri/putin-spia-avvelenata/intervista-limarev/intervista-limarev.html |access-date=26 July 2023 |work=La Repubblica|language=it}}</ref> and underlined their lack of reliability.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bonini|first1=Carlo|last2=D'Avanzo|first2=Giuseppe|date=7 December 2006 |title=L'ex spia del Kgb su Scaramella 'Un bugiardo, voleva rovinare Prodi' |url=https://www.repubblica.it/2006/12/sezioni/esteri/caso-litvinenko-2/scaramella-testa-prodi/scaramella-testa-prodi.html |access-date=22 July 2023 |work=La Repubblica|language=it}}</ref> Despite this, those claims were further repeated by the [[UK Independence Party]]'s [[Gerard Batten]], the [[member of the European Parliament]] for [[London (European Parliament constituency)|London]] who stated that he was informed of this by Litvinenko, who was his constituent and former FSB operative. The 16 February 2018 indictment of [[Paul Manafort]] unsealed on 23 February,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Reilly|first=Ryan J.|date=23 February 2018|title=Former Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Indicted Yet Again|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paul-manafort-indicted_n_5a90878be4b01e9e56bbc0ef|access-date=5 October 2021|website=HuffPost|language=en}}</ref> as part of the [[Mueller special counsel investigation]], alleges that foreign politicians hypothesized to be Prodi and [[Alfred Gusenbauer]] took payments exceeding $2 million from Manafort to promote the case of his client, [[Viktor Yanukovich]]; both denied this and said their work was focused to get closer [[European Union–Ukraine relations]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Erlanger |first1=Steven |last2=Horowitz |first2=Jason |date=2018-02-24 |title=European Ex-Officials Deny Being Paid by Manafort to Lobby for Ukraine |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/world/europe/manafort-gusenbauer-hapsburg-ukraine-indictment.html |access-date=2023-07-26 |issn=0362-4331|quote=On Saturday, Romano Prodi, a former prime minister of Italy, said in an interview that he and an ex-chancellor of Austria, Alfred Gusenbauer, had worked to try to bring Ukraine and the European Union closer together. But Mr. Prodi said the funds he had been paid by Mr. Gusenbauer did not come, to his knowledge, from Mr. Manafort. The compensation from Mr. Gusenbauer was a result of the 'normal private relations I had with him,' Mr. Prodi said, but 'not any money from external sources.' He added: 'I tell you I have never been paid from any lobby group in America.' In a statement to the BBC, Mr. Gusenbauer, who led Austria from January 2007 to December 2008, denied any involvement in Mr. Manafort's work in Ukraine but acknowledged that he had met him twice and talked to European and American politicians about Ukraine, as Mr. Prodi had also done. ... Mr. Prodi said that Mr. Gusenbauer was the 'coordinator' of a group of like-minded liberal and center-left politicians on the issue. ... Mr. Prodi recalled meeting members of Congress interested in Ukraine, but said he had not heard of Mercury. Asked who scheduled the meetings in Washington, Mr. Prodi said, 'I imagine it was Gusenbauer.' ... Asked if the money Mr. Gusenbauer received came from Mr. Manafort, Mr. Prodi seemed skeptical but said that he didn't know. 'Go ask Gusenbauer,' he said, adding that he thought that it was more likely that the money came from European businessmen interested in keeping Europe and Ukraine close.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Meyer|first1=Theodoric|last2=Gerstein|first2=Josh|title=Former Austrian chancellor appears to have lobbied as part of Manafort scheme|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/23/paul-manafort-mueller-probe-washington-lobbying-ukraine-austria-423439|access-date=5 October 2021|website=Politico|date=23 February 2018|quote=Kutler also accompanied Romano Prodi, a former Italian prime minister, to meetings with Royce and a staffer for House Majority Whip Eric Cantor months beforehand. Gusenbauer and Prodi said their work was focused on bringing Ukraine and the European Union closer together and denied being paid by Yanukovych or Manafort. ... Prodi told The New York Times on Saturday that he'd been paid by Gusenbauer as part of the 'normal private relations I had with him' and they the money had not, to his knowledge, come from Manafort. He said he'd never heard of the Hapsburg Group. 'It was Gusenbauer heading the group; we did all our efforts to have peace in Ukraine,' Prodi said. The group, which consisted of 'experts and former politicians,' broke up when it became clear that 'a stronger relationship with the European Union was impossible,' he added.}}</ref>