The center-right rally
Meloni, Tajani, Salvini, Lupi and Trantino take a selfie from the stage to reaffirm the value of the unity of a coalition that aims to make theand square on the island at the next administrations. The goal is to confirm the honeymoon between the government and the country eight months after the victory of the policies. “I always need to go back to the streets and ask the citizens, not the journalists on the sidelines. But what do you think of us, the Italians. This region is strategic”, said the prime minister. “Important investments are arriving, I’m thinking of Enel panels, semiconductors. Sicily, Catania can become convenient places to bring work and development”.
The words of Giorgia Meloni
The premier then launched an appeal for collaboration: “We are in a continuous emergency, we will only save ourselves all together. We as a government will do our part, as in Emilia. We know that we don’t have many friends, not everyone is happy that we are at government, but in the end – he continues to applause – we win thanks to consensus. And now we are growing more than the European average”. So you assured that you wanted to go all the way on the migrant front: “We want structural solutions and in the end we will prevail”.
The words of Tajani and Salvini and the greeting of Berlusconi
Previously, Antonio Tajani also applauded: “I bring you the greetings of your great friend, Silvio Berlusconi”, began the coordinator of Forza Italia. “Here we have all of the center-right united, as in all of Italy, a unity that is a symptom of good governance”. His watchwords are the South, security, work, economic development, in harmony with and with the “support of the regional and national government”. Matteo Salvini also focused on unity: “The more they try to invent divisions between us, the more they strengthen our friendship: Conte and Schlein resign, we will work together for five years. In Sicily we have opened construction sites for 28 billion. This square is the best response to a left that only says no, no tav, no bridge, no roads”. A coalition, in fact, which presents itself to Sicilian voters on the strength of the green light for the bridge over the Strait: “It is an emotion as a minister and as an Italian, after so much talk to have finally approved this project. It does not only unite Sicily and Calabria, but the whole country. It will bring 100,000 real jobs and free up the sea and the air, it will allow millions of Italians, who admire this splendid land, to come to Sicily by spending less”, stated the secretary of the League. “The bridge over the Strait is a great victory for Silvio Berlusconi and Forza Italia”, echoed Tajani. The event was opened by the president of the Region, Renato Schifani. Then the minister Nello Musumeci, from Catania doc called to warm up the audience, recalling that “in this city the heart is in the center to the right”.
The rally of the centre-left
A few tens of kilometers further south, Elly Schlein and Giuseppe Conte finally met for an electoral event, albeit at a distance, after they did not share any initiative during the entire 2023 administrative election campaign. In the closing rally in Syracuse, in support of the common candidate Renata Giunta, the leader of M5s spoke, together with Nicola Fratoianni. Schlein connected remotely, being busy shortly after in Ancona in support of Ida Simonella. A “first”, this particular common closure of Schlein and Conte, which some commentators have interpreted as a truce, if not even a rapprochement, in the “competition” between the two opposition parties.
Conte’s message
Giuseppe Conte relaunched the initiative of the 5 Star Movement, that of an appointment in the square in Rome for June 17, as if to claim the primacy of the M5s on the front of the opposition to the government. Conte not only reiterated the government’s criticisms of the Pnrr, but also attacked him for the sale of a substantial Ita share package to Lufthansa. And in this perspective of competition, in recent weeks the absence of side-by-side rallies between Conte and Schlein has also been interpreted in the Municipalities, however few, where pentastellati and Democrats supported the same mayoral candidate. On Sunday and Monday, not only will the ballots be held in 41 major municipalities, including seven capitals, but the first round will also take place in the municipal ones in Sicily. Here too Pd and M5s run together only in Catania and Syracuse, and not in Trapani and Ragusa.
Schlein’s words
Conte made a two-day tour of the island visiting various cities, including Catania in support of Maurizio Caserta, and Syracuse, where Fratoianni was also on stage. Not in presence, but in connection, Schlein also spoke. The secretary of the Democratic Party chose Ancona to speak face-to-face because the Adriatic city has assumed an absolute symbolic value for the party. After losing the leadership of the Region, once considered one of the “red” ones, maintaining the administration of the capital of the Marches would mean reversing a downward trend, avoiding what happened in Umbria, which was also once a “red” Region and now all of the centre-right, both at regional and municipal level. It is no coincidence that in Terni the Democratic Party candidate did not even make it to the ballot. Schlein’s rally focused on social issues, criticism of the government, cuts to public health, proposing the Democratic Party as the “cure party” as an alternative to the right. Equally incisive, like Conte’s, are the criticisms of the government on the Pnrr (“tell us what are the changes they’ve been talking about for months, without anyone having seen them, they risk missing Italy’s appointment with history”) , on the work decree that “increases precariousness” and on the rental problem, which does not only affect non-residents.
The game in other cities
In addition to Ancona, the Democratic Party is also holding its breath for Brindisi. Here the dems, to reach an agreement with the M5s, rejected their outgoing mayor, who reappeared anyway. However, the common candidate with the pentastelalti has remained 11 points behind that of the centre-right, with which he will clash in the runoff. Depending on the outcome, the voices in favor of a Pd-M5s alliance will strengthen or weaken. To measure the impact of the Schlein effect, al Nazareno, hopefully in the three Tuscan capitals – Pisa, Massa and Siena – snatched in 2018 by the center-right from the Democratic Party. If in one or more of these cities, the Democrats returned to express the mayor, as in Vicenza with Giacomo Possamai, the party would be satisfied with this first electoral test under the guidance of the secretary.