“Matteo made the decision, we were not interested in being accused of losing Letta,” admits Ettore Rosato, president of Italia Viva, after Renzi’s okay for Enrico Letta’s candidacy in Siena. In short, no profit or negotiation, no do ut des between the college of Siena and that of Rome Primavalle. Unilateral decision, as Letta hoped. But there is one element worth noting. It is the first battle that Matteo Renzi gives up. Perhaps for fear of being torn to pieces by the dem militants and to get rid of the ghost of “stay calm” (written to Letta just before having him out of Palazzo Chigi). For this reason Renzi has chosen to postpone the support of another candidate against Letta in the Siena college left vacant by the former minister Padoan. After all, he made one of the most unnatural decisions for someone like him: to dodge a fight, avoid a challenge. In two words, back off from an arm wrestling. Of course, it would not have been a direct challenge, but through an intermediary, that of Stefano Scaramelli, Tuscan regional councilor of Italia Viva. Who, in his post of resignation, uses high-sounding tones, indeed he even says that if he had been a candidate, the government could have fallen. “One of my or our alternative candidacies to the current secretary of the Democratic Party would have destroyed any prospect of reformism in Italy and opened the doors to the right and therefore we have decided to stop.”
Renzi puts it down like this to explain the support for Letta to the suppletive Sienese. “Enrico Letta’s words are convincing and we are willing to lend a hand”, he says, explaining that behind this reluctance to support him there are local issues: “I think and I believe that Letta explained to those of the Tuscan Democratic Party that whoever made the agreement with Salvini it was precisely the Tuscan Democratic Party having made a mess with the League to increase the number of seats ». The leader of Iv does not add anything else. Now in the parts of Letta they are waiting to see when the time comes if this support will be concrete, or only virtual. Or if even his ancient rival will try to pull him another trip in Tuscany.