From Rome
The Italian right and center-right entered into crisis during the repeated votes that blocked the quick election of a new President of the Republic last week. The current president Sergio Mattarella he was the only candidate who on Saturday achieved the necessary majority of votes. And this Thursday he assumed his second term that will last another seven years.
In his message before Parliament but also addressed to Italian citizens, the president was forceful regarding the objectives of the new post-pandemic Italy. That Italy must be based on “dignity” to combat poverty, free itself from the mafias and crime, combat trafficking and slavery of human beings, oppose racism and anti-Semitism, eliminate discrimination against women and violence against them, give space to young people and society the right to free and independent information, he mentioned among other things.
“My thoughts at this time are addressed to all Italian men and women, of all ages, from all regions, of all social conditions and political orientation. In particular to those who are suffering the most at this time and who are expected from the institutions of the Republic to guarantee their rights, support and concrete responses to their discomfort”, the President began by saying.
In building the new Italy that is expected by the end of the pandemic, “we cannot afford delays or uncertainties. The fight against the virus is not over. The vaccination campaign has greatly reduced the risk, but we must remain vigilant. It is clear that the reactivation of all activities is linked to the spread of vaccines that help protect ourselves and others,” he added. But Mattarella also stressed that the relaunch of the economy must be marked by “sustainability and innovation”, stimulating the “ecological and digital transition”. “We must have new instruments that serve to prevent possible future global dangers,” added the President, who then thanked the police, carabinieri and army forces for their work, and above all by doctors, nurses and volunteers committed to the task of combating the virus. And here a noisy and long applause broke out on the part of the two Chambers that were attending the President’s speech.
“We cannot accept that now the time of confrontation is lifted again, in a continent that has known the tragedies of the First and Second World Wars,” Mattarella said in a tacit allusion to the movements of armed forces that are becoming intense. in the Mediterranean, especially Russian and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), due to the differences over Ukraine. According to the President, the exhibition of these forces must leave space by “understanding each other reciprocally so that no people can fear aggression from their neighbors.”
Mattarella, who also sent a greeting to Pope Francis “whom all of Italy regards with great respect”, underlined the fact that although employment has increased lately, many women are still excluded from work, which constitutes “one of the factors that slow down ” Italian development, in addition to being a sign of “civil, cultural and human backwardness”, concluded by remembering the actress Mónica Vitti, who died this Wednesday.
The complicated political world
Despite the good words of President Mattarella, the controversies between the parties and within the parties did not end, according to the Italian press. “Great tension in the parties after the vote”, headlined the newspaper Corriere della Sera from Milan after Mattarella was elected. And alluding to the task that Prime Minister Mario Draghi will have to carry out from now on, the newspaper The stamp of Turin commented that “Draghi will have to keep together an increasingly fighting majority”. In fact, representatives of the Democratic Party, Article One, Italia Viva, all from the center left, form part of the government. But also the Five Star Movement (centre), Forza Italia (centre right) and Matteo Salvini’s League (right).
And since the voting began, the differences between these parties have become more evident because they could never agree on a candidate for president and in the end they had to re-elect Mattarella so as not to continue to keep Italy in the instability that would cause serious problems even on an international level.
But the disputes were also triggered in the coalitions. Fratelli d’Italia, the far-right party led by Giorgia Meloni and an ally of Salvini and Forza Italia, has consistently opposed candidates proposed by its allies, including Mattarella. And at the end she said that according to her, the center-right coalition should be refounded. And apparently she would like to be the top leader of that coalition given that her party has risen notably in the polls that evaluate the votes that each party could receive.
Salvini, for his part, would like to found a federation that includes liberals and Catholics, among others, to give life to a sort of Italian version of the conservative Republican Party in the United States. And with this objective he convened the Federal Council of the League this week. And according to some journalistic versions he would have said at the meeting that “We have nothing to do with Meloni”, which in some way has been understood as a break with that ally. Berlusconi, on the other hand, seems to sympathize with the idea of the future Italian Republican Party.
In the M5S there is talk of differences between the current head of the Movement, former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, and the current Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio. At the conclusion of the presidential vote, Di Maio told the press that “some leaders have fueled tensions and divisions. We have to work together.” And apparently Conte did not like these declarations and would ask him to clarify before the M5S assembly.
All these disputes also indicate that the parties are beginning to reorganize in view of the parliamentary elections that should be held next year.
For some analysts, the PD is thinking of a kind of “ideological reinvention of the center-left” given the great changes that globalization and the pandemic have caused in the world. For now, the PD would be working above all on the elaboration of a new electoral law for next year’s elections, since from that moment on there will be a reduced Parliament, with only 600 members and not 945 as before.
Regardless of the disputes, many appreciate the balance between Mattarella and Draghi that offers great stability, not only for Italy abroad but in view of the changes that could occur until the elections.
