Between crossed vetoes and delays, the moderate coalition is struggling to choose the mayoral candidate for Palazzo Marino against Mario Calabresi. From Lupi to Perego di Cremnago up to the Bertolaso hypothesis: all the names on the table for the race for Palazzo Marino after the Sala era.
In Milan the centre-right he decided to lose the elections.
Obviously, he doesn’t say it with the same frankness with which I’m telling you, but that’s how things are. Why do I think that the quadripartite which makes up the moderate coalition has chosen to give the economic capital of Italy to the left for another five years?
For hesitations ca find the successor of Beppe Sala. The current mayor in the Lombardy capital is out of office and is not very popular.
He has done nothing regarding safety and decorum in the city, he has made a mess of traffic and urban planning, by giving officials and builders a free hand, he has succeeded in paralyzing the city. Given the results of the former Expo commissioner, the center-right would therefore have an excellent chance of reconquering the city and bringing back Marine Palace that pragmatism that in the past season changed the face of entire neighborhoods, making Milan a modern and European metropolis.
The stalemate of the center-right and the shadow of past mistakes
But no. Forza Italia, Alloy, Brothers of Italy And We moderates they dawdle about, without deciding anything. They say they have shortlists of candidates to draw from.
They announce that they are ready to field professional politicians and representatives of civil society, but then, to the point, they decide nothing and there is a risk of ending up like last time, when after taking dozens of names for granted, at the last minute and without too much conviction a head doctor from the Fatebenefratelli hospital was chosen, an undisputed professional, but not known to the general public.
Mario Calabresi’s move and the coalition’s crossed vetoes
To replace Sala, the center-left has already found its candidate. Mario Calabresiformer director of La Stampa and La Repubblica but above all son of the commissioner murdered by a Lotta Continua commando, has left the positions and shares he held in a podcast company, saying he is ready to run for the mayor’s seat. It is not yet clear whether the much-celebrated primaries will be worth it for him or whether, as has already happened in the past to avoid someone unexpectedly appearing without being seen, his entry into the field will be decided by the party secretariats. However, regardless of what the leaders of the Pd, 5 Stelle and Avs do, i.e. if instead of dividing they choose to support Calabresi ignoring the evident conflict of interest (among the shareholders of his former company there is Tether, a cryptocurrency giant that would like to build data centers in Milan), what is striking is the total absence of a centre-right strategy to bring a moderate back to Palazzo Chigi.
A while ago Ignazio La Russawho counts for something in Milan, used the name of Maurizio Lupi. Milanese and former Transport Minister of the Renzi government, the leader of We Moderates is however disliked by Forza Italia, which considers him a traitor. Before the summer, Antonio Tajani used the name of the economist Carlo Cottarelli, who although not from Milan is Lombard, but has the flaw of having been a senator of the Democratic Party. Then we witnessed a whirlwind of names, including that of Silvia Sardone, Northern League MEP.
Lastly, the hypothesis of Matteo Perego from Cremnago, undersecretary of Defense in the Meloni government, emerged. Milanese, a former manager in the fashion sector with a couple of legislatures behind him in the ranks of Forza Italia, he has the only problem of being practically unknown to the general public. In a challenge with Calabresi, behind which the radical left of Pierfrancesco Majorino, social centers and indiscriminate reception would hide, Perego would have no chance of winning.
The precedent of the winning councils is the Guido Bertolaso card
And to say that Milan is not as red as Bologna or Florence and it is not even like Rome.
It is true that in the nineties the councils were centre-left, but then came Marco Formentini’s Northern League administration and three centre-right administrations, first with Gabriele Albertini and then with Letizia Moratti. Fifteen years that have changed the face of Milan, transforming degraded neighborhoods like the Island into very modern centers and the former Fair district into City Life, not to mention the new metro lines. The glittering city was resurrected with the centre-right, while the Pisapia and Sala councils only managed to make it less safe and more expensive. Therefore, it is time to take back the economic capital and make it grow again. But precisely the center-right seems intent on losing. We need a name. Maybe a Berlusconi. But in the absence of the availability of an heir of the man who made the country dream with the idea of a liberal revolution, one can always focus on one of his close collaborators. Who am I thinking of? TO Guido Bertolasowho is not from Milan but has been living in Milan for a few years now, as a regional health councilor. In the past it saved Naples and revived post-earthquake Abruzzo: why shouldn’t it be able to revive the Lombard capital too? He is a practical man, a civil servant, a resource. You just need to convince him.
