the opposition (2019–2021) After the formation of the Conte II Cabinet, Salvini often criticized the new government for its views on immigration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he criticized Conte's plans to use the European Stability Mechanism to boost the economy. Draghi government (2021–2022) In February 2021, Salvini supported the League joining the national unity government of former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, together with the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement, Forza Italia and other minor centre and centre-left parties. This came despite Draghi's vocally pro-Europe stance. The right-wing party Brothers of Italy led by Giorgia Meloni, a partner of Salvini's League in the centre-right coalition, did not give its support to the Draghi government, making it the major opposition party. On 22 October 2021, Salvini was recorded during a closed-door meeting saying that Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party "should remain the opposition without breaking our balls". He also admitted defeat in the 2021 Italian local elections, saying that "when you lose disgracefully, lagging by 30 points in some big cities, there is little to celebrate. The centre-right's split in two or three pieces certainly doesn't help." Salvini later claimed to have laughed about the recording in a WhatsApp exchange with Meloni. Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister (2022–present) On 22 October 2022, Giorgia Meloni, the leader of Brothers of Italy party, was sworn in as Italy's first female prime minister. Lega leader Matteo Salvini became deputy prime minister in her government. The new government, Italy's most right-wing since World War II, included also centre-right party of ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Legal issues In February 2020, the Senate formally authorized a trial against Salvini over the Gregoretti Italian coastguard ship case, in which – as Interior Minister at the time – he was accused of kidnapping the rescued migrants by forbidding the ship from docking the port of Augusta, Sicily. A judge in Catania dismissed the case in May 2021, saying that no crime had been committed, the incident was not a kidnapping, and that Salvini's six-day block to allow for other EU countries to resettle the migrants was permissible by international law. On 30 July 2020, the Senate authorized (by 149 votes against 141) a second trial against Salvini over the Open Arms case, where he also stands accused of kidnapping migrants after disposing the stop of the NGO's rescue ship off the coast of Sicily in