Stefano Feltri Mario Draghi
Corsa al Quirinale: the interviews of Affari Italiani with the directors of other newspapers / Stefano Feltri (“Domani”)
Voting to elect the President of the Republic will begin on Monday 24 January. The choice of Mattarella’s successor has been taking place for months now, but as the moment of truth approaches, the plots become more dense and exciting. In his series of interviews on the subject, Affari Italiani talks about it with Stefano Feltri, director of the newspaper “Domani”.
What effect did Berlusconi’s latest coup, namely the abrupt stop to his “squirrel operation” have on you?
“Well, Berlusconi was not considered credible as Prime Minister in 1994 and yet we found him in power for twenty years, albeit on and off. We are wrong to be amazed that he wants to feel like the protagonist of this match! Clearly his is a race that has never had great foundations: the numbers to be elected at the Quirinale are such that this project has never seemed very credible. However, once again Berlusconi has managed to do what he does best: return to center stage. He made it clear that in any case we must go to him and that he cannot be considered politically dead. I don’t think he will go to the Quirinale, but he is back in the center. At least in the dynamics of the center-right “.
Yet it is said that not even in the center-right was support for him so compact, given that in the perspective of the 2023 elections, both Salvini and Meloni would be better off having a President of the Republic who accredits them in Europe better than Berlusconi could do….
“I have always written to consider as the only rational scenario the one in which the center-right becomes the engine of Draghi’s election at the Quirinale, because it is useful to everyone. It is useful for Salvini because he must be part of the majority that elects the President and cannot afford another Head of State which is suspicious of him, as Mattarella was. Meloni has always expressed her respect for Draghi and she too needs someone to legitimize her in her transition to center-right leader. Furthermore, I have always thought that even for Berlusconi the most rational thing was to become the great voter of Draghi: he has little chance of reaching the Quirinale and has already benefited twice from supporting Draghi, namely in 2005 when he became Governor of the Bank. of Italy and in 2011 with its passage to the ECB. Shortly after, in fact, the letter co-signed by Draghi arrived which extended the life of the Berlusconi government… which, moreover, made bad use of the time granted to it. Someone like Draghi, who has never been hostile to him, is at this moment the best that Berlusconi can aim for ”.
On the other hand, it is a bit more difficult to understand what the center-left’s goal is. There does not seem to be a flag candidate, but the desire to arrive at a shared solution, of national unity: could Draghi therefore be the best solution for everyone?
“In my opinion, the positions of the two main parties must be separated. It seems a geological era ago, but in 2013 the Five Star Movement led the debate on the Quirinale with the ethically brilliant candidacy of Rodotà, who was not one of its exponents but a man of the traditional center-left, who however became a strong and mobilizing candidate . But then the grillini were no longer able to lead the game and now they have just disappeared, having great structural difficulties “.
And what about the Democratic Party?
“It’s a different story. It is processing the trauma of not being the party that can give the cards, let alone the one that the next President will express. After Napolitano, Ciampi and Mattarella, now the situation is very different and the Dems are handling it badly. Instead of being the ones to propose themselves as the great voters of Draghi, they are always waiting for the moves of the center-right, to then react. So far they have simply said: ‘No to Berlusconi’, but they have never proposed Draghi, they have never really supported the Mattarella-bis hypothesis and they have never even tried to propose a third name. Their only name is Giuliano Amato, an exponent of the center-left who can actually please even pieces of the center-right, but not even in his case have they made a real proposal, waiting for the first move of the opponents ”.
Converging on Draghi could therefore be convenient for everyone, without leaving winners and losers on the field. But what would be the drop point for the government, given that no one wants to vote?
“It’s very simple: precisely because no one wants to vote, a solution will be found. In this way the legislature will last until 2023 and it will be possible to manage the electoral law. A compromise will be identified, also because in a pre-election year anyone can become prime minister: reforms and big projects will not be possible, given that all the parties will campaign against each other, while remaining in the majority together. This is also the real reason, in my opinion, why Draghi prefers to move to the Quirinale. Colao, Cartabia or in any case a profile that confirms more or less the same government can easily go to Palazzo Chigi, perhaps with party leaders within it, as Salvini suggested, but without pretending to do great things “.
There is a lot of talk about Minister Cartabia, also because there is a gender issue that continues to remain unsolved …
“Well, Cartabia has qualities and limits that go beyond the gender issue and we have written about both of them. But the issue is there: those who say that women should be evaluated for their merits, beyond the pink quotas, are right, but also those who pose the problem that the question of competence is raised only for them, never for men. Let’s say that finally having a woman at Palazzo Chigi, with Draghi at the Quirinale, would give a different image of the country than we would have with Berlusconi as President of the Republic and Draghi resigning ”.
Do you share the feeling that the interest aroused by the election of the President of the Republic among the professionals is not reflected much in the feelings of the citizens, grappling with other problems?
“It is politics in general that are less and less passionate. But at this stage I notice a certain interest, certainly not for the tactics related to the election, but because the President of the Republic for many Italians is basically the one of the message of December 31st and of difficult moments, he is the synthesis of national identity . Speaking with people, I seem to feel a certain curiosity about which face Italy will represent in the next seven years “.
Corsa al Quirinale: Affari Italiani interviews the directors of other newspapers
Agnese Pini (La Nazione): “Berlusconi wants Amato or Draghi, but Salvini …”
Claudio Cerasa (Il Foglio): “Renzi plays on two tables”
Franco Bechis (Il Tempo): “Salvini king-maker challenges Berlusconi”
#Stefano #Feltri #Domani #Mario #Draghi #Quirinale #suitable