Renzi brings the Leopolda conference to a close and appeals to the reformists within Forza Italia. Tajani: ‘We are the centre’
Matteo Renzi brought the 14th edition of the Leopolda to a close in Florence. On the issue of alliances, Renzi began with Elly Schlein: ‘She left the PD when the Jobs Act was passed. She cannot vouch for me.’ The proposal is ‘a German-style contract’
Key points
On the one hand, an overture to the centre and to the reformists within Forza Italia. On the other, some ‘clarifications’ for the broad coalition, in the form of guarantees sought from allies, starting with Giuseppe Conte. Matteo Renzi brings the fourteenth edition of the Leopolda to a close in Florence and sets out Italia Viva’s conditions for remaining in the coalition.
Forza Italia’s appeal to reformists and centrists
“We’re not ruling anyone out,” says the leader of IV, addressing those in the centre whom he regards as “leaders or would-be leaders”: “To them I say we don’t want to co-opt anyone. Let’s not keep going on about ‘we want a synthesis’.” Then came the explicit invitation: “Join us in this new venture. I appeal to the reformists in Forza Italia: leave the party. Our doors are open; come and lend us a hand.”
Tajani’s response: ‘We are the centre’
“There is only one centre: Forza Italia. We are the home of the moderates, the European People’s Party in Italia, an alternative to the left and a pillar of the centre-right founded by Silvio Berlusconi.” This was stated by the leader of Forza Italia, Antonio Tajani, following Matteo Renzi’s remarks at the Leopolda. “To those who believed in good faith that a genuine social-democratic culture and a Labour tradition still existed on the left, we say that today that political space no longer exists. If you believe in reformism, freedom, the rule of law, Europe and the West, your home can only be Forza Italia,” he emphasised. “Our doors are open to all those who wish to join us and help build this great, popular and moderate project,” he emphasised. “To quote Battiato, we are the permanent centre of gravity of Italian politics,” he added.
Three guarantees demanded of Conte
On the issue of alliances, Renzi starts with Elly Schlein: ‘She left the PD when the Jobs Act was passed. She cannot vouch for me.’ The proposal is ‘a German-style contract’. Three guarantees are being sought from Conte. The first: that Matteo Salvini “no longer attends the Ministry of the Interior as he did in the past”. The second: that Giancarlo Giorgetti “no longer attends the Council of Ministers”, because “he is considered the expert but gets the figures wrong”. The third: never to “side with Donald Trump, a man who has destroyed the American dream”. Added to these is a request regarding the Quirinale: “A sovereignist or a populist must never go to the Quirinale; it must be a pro-European”.
Giorgetti is once again under scrutiny over the banking scandal: ‘What he did with Unicredit is despicable; he must stop meddling in the banking sector.’
