On the table are the primaries, strongly supported by the M5s leader, and the enlargement to Renzi. The former minister could open up to the lawyer in exchange for support in the race for Colle
There is a recurring situation, bordering on paradox, in the events of PDthe frequency of which has intensified especially since the suggestion of the “wide field” was born: every time some difficulty arises we turn to the “weaver” par excellence, Dario Franceschinicalled back to the front line to untangle skeins that seem inextricable and dictate a useful line.
Rightly or wrongly considered to be the tutelary deity of secretary Schlein, the expert senator from Ferrara had retreated into the shadows also following some health problems which seem to have been happily overcome, but assuming that he ever truly retired, he has carved out his own role as a balancer capable of bringing to a synthesis, or at least smoothing out the edges of the most difficult situations.
This time, and this is the news, his intervention was not directly requested by Elly Schleinbut by a group of PD parliamentarians, worried about the recent divisions that have emerged in the coalition which risk derailing it from the tracks of unity even before starting.
Elly would like to postpone and address all the issues in September, but her prevarications are not appreciated by many in the Democratic Party, and Franceschini himself believes we cannot delay any longer: the framework must be defined as soon as possible.
The meeting reserved for Montecitorio to untie the knots of the coalition
The face to face between Schlein and Conte, especially after the events in Naples, cannot be postponed, not only to settle disagreements and clarify future moves, but above all because the mother of all issues is still at stake, namely that of leadership.
This is why last week Franceschini and the 5 Star leader discussed it in Montecitorio for almost an hour, in the classic “secret” meeting that actually wanted to be known. The themes at the center of the discussion were different, but all centered on positioning and positional tactics: differences in foreign policy, a real vulnus between the Democratic Party and M5sit does not appear to have been addressed.
First of all, we discussed how to intensify parliamentary activity, strengthening its cohesion, overcoming existing differences, to pressure the government. But above all, Franceschini wanted to understand Conte’s real intentions on two key topics: the primaries for the leadership and the extension to Renzi’s centrists. According to the leader of Area Dem, the center-left cannot afford to hold on Italia Viva out of the alliance. Especially after a complicated amendment to Forza Italia’s Electoral Law, approved in the Chamber, provides that, in the 42% necessary for a coalition to obtain the majority bonus, the votes of allied lists that have not reached 3% will not be counted. Except for the list that, among those excluded, will have managed to gather the highest number of consensus.
The impact of the electoral rule on agreements with reformists
This change, intended to favor the We moderates in the centre-right, Lupi’s small party stably around 1-1.2%, means, even for the centre-left, that moderates and reformists get together, under penalty of the risk of defeat. And the best equipped politically, parliamentaryly and organizationally is Italia Viva itself Matteo Renzistable at 2%, with Piu Europa by Magi around 1.3%. The Senator from Rignano is strong in the fact that he has a more or less organized party behind him, with two parliamentary groups – and therefore that he is not forced, as required by the electoral law, to collect signatures to present his lists – he can concentrate on the objective of recruiting into his reformist House those who do not recognize themselves in the Pd-M5S-Avs trident. But it is by no means a given that it will succeed. These maneuvers would also have the effect of sending into the attic the acrobatic efforts of Goffredo Bettini and others who hypothesize the construction of “reformist tents” to accompany the broad camp, with the entry into the field of new personalities starting from the current mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi. Unless, of course, driven by the rule introduced, Renzi and Bettini find common ground: not simple, but in politics never say never…
But the main topic that took center stage in the Conte-Franceschini chat concerned the primaries, however concealing an ulterior motive. It is well known that the leader of the M5s much prefers this path to choose the leading candidate, aware of the fact that failure to activate this tool will suck him into the centrist palace intrigues who consider the competition between the two leaders of the major parties, both lacking, to be deleterious, and would be looking for the messiah to savior the homeland, i.e. the foreign pope. The transition from the primaries for Conte, committed above all to defending the identity of the 5 Stars, appears decisive, and once the result has been obtained he could even consider the hypothesis of an extension to Renzi.
The strategic axis on the primaries and the future of the Quirinale
It is difficult to say whether Conte and Franceschini have gone further, taking up a strategic reasoning that their collaborators privately admit has already existed: that which concerns the Quirinale. The concern of the center left is to create an alliance broad enough to prevent the right, in the new Parliament, from controlling even the highest hill. Precisely on this topic the possible convergence between Franceschini and Conte develops, halfway between high political balances and “low cuisine”. The senator from Ferrara, a man of very long standing and a great weaver of institutional balance, could be willing to identify in Conte the ideal profile to give the center-left a competitive guide and at the same time obtain future five-star support for his possible candidacy for the Quirinale. Do (today) ut des (tomorrow)
The operation, of course, is not without obstacles. Within the Democratic Party many look with suspicion at hypotheses that risk downsizing Schlein, starting with herself, while in the Five Star Movement not everyone would probably be willing to support a politician of the Christian Democratic school like Franceschini for the highest office in the state. But we know that politics is the art of the possible. We will see in the near future whether this chat was, as those directly involved say, a simple exchange of opinions or whether it was much broader and more demanding.
