It’s just an aside, but it weighs like a boulder. “Following the will of the president Berlusconi…». Antonio Tajani connect via zoom to the meeting of the presidency committee of Come on Italy. With a sad look he reviews the latest appointments at the top of the party. They date back to March, it is the turnaround by Marta Fascina which inaugurated the takeover of some loyalists of the Last lady of the Knight and marginalized the circle close to Licia Ronzulli: Tullio Ferrante in the electoral sector, Alessandro Sorte in the Lombard coordination in Ronzulli’s place, the former group leader in the Chamber Alessandro Cattaneo, replaced by Paolo Barelli, “promoted” to national deputy coordinator. Many “tajanei” that the maneuver places in command posts: together with Barelli Alessandro Battilocchio at the enrollment, the newly appointed commissioners in Salento and in the Marches Andrea Caroppo and Francesco Battistoni. The leaders of the force gathered virtually in the Roman headquarters in via in Lucina, from Gasparri to Ronzulli and Cattaneo – only the treasurer Alfredo Messina appears live, in tears – unanimously ratify the turn of the party “in the name” of Cav. These are hours of mourning and doubts, no one feels like arguing, not even the Ronzullians who are bitter. Not only for the restyling among a thousand unknowns: Cattaneo, for example, will have to share an armchair for two with Gregorio Fontana, who has not yet abandoned his office.
Berlusconi, what will happen in Forza Italia? Pro-Fascina appointments, the financing node and the fears of Giorgia Meloni
THE SIGNAL
Twenty-four hours after Berlusconi’s death and his funeral today in Milan, the meeting was initially supposed to limit itself to giving the mandatory green light to the 2022 financial statement. million euros. Instead, as anticipated on the eve of an email from the treasurer, which was later denied, there are no nominations on the table. A formal act, on paper. A political act, considering the timing: Forza Italia will continue in the wake of the Knight.
Leading the plow of the blue party for now will be Tajani. Fascina, Berlusconi’s quasi-wife, has the trust of the family and will remain in the very front row. With what role? Everyone wonders about it and many start thinking about the moment in which the will of the patron of FI will be disclosed. Will a piece of party be left as a dowry to Lady Fascina? Certainly a new era is opening for her too. Vice-President Tajani will now sign the official documents. Therefore also the territorial reorganization in Northern, Southern and Central Italy which should have placed some of the loyalists of the Campania deputy in charge of the respective coordinations and could now end up frozen to avoid exacerbating internal tensions. And then, some of the force supporters already malignant, “from now on we should see Marta more at Montecitorio than at Arcore ..”. This is the climate and the internal shocks are already robbing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of sleep, who has bet the campaign for next year’s European elections on the Fi-FdI axis. This is why the bridge workers took to the field: above all Gianni Letta, the blue eminence involved in a coming and going of phone calls between Palazzo Chigi and Villa San Martino with Meloni and Marina, the eldest daughter. Who is determined, they say, to take charge of her father’s political creature in spite of herself, but with an inverted order of priority: first the companies, then the party. Tajani for his part wants to calm the waters. He heads to the funeral and ceremony in honor of Berlusconi that the groups will celebrate in the Senate chamber on Tuesday. Then, soon, the time for strategies will come. With two converging priorities: consolidating the axis with the European People’s Party, of which Tajani is the first Italian intermediary, and saving the European pact with FdI.
The dream of a single “republican party” of the center right longed for in recent times by Berlusconi is destined to remain so: it is not convenient for anyone. It is different to think of a re-branding of the Cav’s political creature now orphaned of its true, sole star performer in the squares and in the polls. Perhaps precisely in the wake of the EPP – the symbol, as requested by Berlusconi, will be in the FI logo at the European Championships – bringing together small and large centrist formations in an Italian People’s Party allied with the European People’s Party. A Sturzo 2.0 operation, inside the centre-right. Just ideas, maybe. Time will tell.
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