MILAN. This morning the leader of Italia Viva Matteo Renzi returned to the Superstudio in via Tortona where on 2 September he had opened the electoral campaign of the Terzo Polo in Milan together with the leader of Action Carlo Calenda. “I felt that Milan and Lombardy would have made a difference,” says the former prime minister from the stage, who in fact underlines how the hopes expressed before the vote on reaching the double figures were then transformed into reality. “Here we did just over 10%: you also overtook Tuscany, so thank you” he says turning to the audience and adds confidently “in the next European elections we will be the first party in the country”.
But here in Lombardy in the last few hours an important clash is being played, which has now almost come to a showdown, between the President of the Region Attilio Fontana and his deputy Letizia Moratti: in fact, both aspire to represent the Center-right in the race of the next regional in 2023 and after yesterday’s meeting between the two at Palazzo Lombardia, different scenarios open up that could also involve the Third Pole. To journalists who ask him for possible support for Moratti’s candidacy, Renzi cautiously replies: “It’s an embarrassing discussion entirely within the center-right, we have never seen a regional president arguing with his deputy the week after they won the elections policies. Together with Calenda and the Lombard members of Action and Italia Viva we will decide what to do. For now, it seems to me an internal manipulation of the center-right “but he adds” I think they will find an agreement “. According to Renzi, to start talking seriously about the game of the Regionals it will be necessary to wait for the formation of the new government and therefore any judgment on Moratti will be taken after that moment. However, he underlines in a list the authoritativeness of the figure in the field: “you were president of Rai, you were minister, and you have certainly improved the health situation in Lombardy, which was in bad shape during the months of the pandemic”. However, no wide field in the race to drive the Pirellone: ”We will not be with the M5s or with the Pd, nor with the right, as it is obvious that it is”.
The report on the vote at the polls on 25 September is an opportunity to also talk about the Democratic Party: “Here there is only one big person responsible for Meloni’s victory – explains Renzi on the sidelines of the meeting – The only person that the leader of Brothers of Italy must thank is Enrico Letta, who got it all wrong ». Finally, the lunge: «The Democratic Party as we have known it is over, a matter of months and the congress will definitively clarify it. The Democratic Party is the past of this country, ‘Reniew Europe’ is the future ». There is no shortage of words also for the League, which “has taken a historic step: they have taken as much as we who left a month and a half before the elections. If we had had three more weeks we would have overtaken Lega and Berlusconi, but he is a Highlander ».
The word “future” is the one most used by Renzi throughout his speech from the stage, both as regards the work in Parliament where “we can make a serious opposition to the contents”, and for the dynamics within the Third Pole: “we will have to involve people who vote left and right but who now do not know who to vote for ». Future also because “we are the most voted political entity in universities – explains Renzi – this is beautiful but also a huge responsibility”. Given the strong ambitions for the next Europeans, the leader of Italia Viva reserves it to the “complicated” international situation: “We have never been so close to an atomic escalation as this time, from the missile crisis in Cuba in 1962. I am very worried ». With regard to the conflict in Ukraine, for Renzi the sanctions are “right but a peace envoy must also be sent because peace is not made on social networks but with diplomacy: Europe must open a diplomatic channel”.