"The political changes that are taking place in the Five Stars and in the Democratic Party these days are not the result of chance or of simple organizational deficits or even of character choices but are the result of the failure of previous political lines that the initiative of Renzi and Italy Viva has played a decisive role in uncovering”. Gennaro Migliore, leading parliamentarian of Italia Viva and former Undersecretary of Justice, 53 years old, Neapolitan, with a degree in Physics, speaks proudly of the birth of the Draghi Government which in a few days has "opened a new political season in which everything has movement” and looks with respect at the labor of the Democratic Party, in which he previously served and from which he came out with Matteo Renzi. As he explains in this interview with FIRSTonline, Migliore is convinced that "when the secretary is changed so abruptly" as the Democratic Party did, it is a sign that "we are also preparing to change line" and his hope is that Letta avoids crushing on the Five Stars and "open to a real dialogue with all the reformist forces without discrimination" towards Italia Viva which, in turn, promises to be ready for "confrontation without prejudice" also with Letta's Pd. But here is how Migliore's analysis and reasoning unfold.
Mr Migliore, the birth of the Draghi government is quickly forcing the parties to rethink themselves: the Five Stars have decided to rely on the leadership of Conte, the Democratic Party on that of Enrico Letta who will be proclaimed in the Assembly on Sunday and next week will be the National Assembly of Iv. Did you expect such rapid changes and concretely where can they lead?
“Political changes never happen by chance and are not the result of simple organizational deficits or character choices and once again they are the result of the acknowledgment, even if not openly declared, of the failure of previous political lines. In particular, Cinque Stelle and Pd had bet on only one political option and had armored the Conte 2 government, but they found themselves displaced by the political initiative of Italia Viva and by the wisdom of President Mattarella which paved the way for the Draghi government.
However, both the Five Stars and the Democratic Party were able to promptly change: how do you judge the news of the Conte guide and the Letta secretariat?
“We will judge by the facts. I don't know if the choice of the Five Stars to rely on Conte, who eliminates internal rebellion but praises an incomprehensible "healthy populism" inspired by his first government, is really a wise choice and time will tell if they will manage to be a system strength or not. However, the reference to populism seems to me full of risks and resembles a large umbrella good for all seasons but with an undoubted transformative flavour”.
And what is your opinion on the Letta-led Democratic Party?
"Also in this case the final change is the result of the failure of the bet "either Conte or death" which Zingaretti pursued against all evidence and which imposed a reorganization of the top of the Democratic Party more consistent with the birth of the Draghi Government, which the Democratic Party he suffered but which we now hope he supports with full conviction. The courageous determination of Renzi and Italia viva and Mattarella's happy intuition in the face of the inaction of the Conte 2 government ended up revealing that even in the Democratic Party the king was naked and that it was necessary to change course by opening a new political season in the name of national interest of which the Draghi government is the banner”.
What do you expect now from the Democratic Party? Will the preferential axis with the Five Stars be reaffirmed or do you think that the rise of a convinced pro-European and reformist like Letta and the awareness that Conte's leadership makes the Five Stars formidable electoral competitors could lead the Democratic Party to change its strategy and move towards a line less crushed on the Five Stars and more open to all reformist forces?
“The Democratic Party is a complex party that I speak of with great respect having served in the past. Apart from the schematizations, it seems clear to me that if the secretary is changed so abruptly, one is also preparing to change line, even if Letta will have to take into account who won the previous Congress and the previous primaries. But the new reality is stronger than the balance of power which, sooner or later, will only be able to take note of the failures of the Zingaretti line. Naturally I hope that the Democratic Party will now open up to a real dialogue with all the reformist forces without prejudicial discrimination with the aim of a new reformist project at the service of the country and without electoral alliances with a populist flavor in view of the forthcoming administrative consultations in the big cities ”.
Can the ancient rust between Renzi and Letta hinder the confrontation between IV and Pd? Don't you think that among some of the supporters of the new secretary of the Democratic Party there is also the afterthought that Letta is, from the outset, the furthest from Renzi and the least inclined to easy reconciliations?
"It may be that in a part of the Democratic Party there are retro-thoughts and resentments from the past, but in the end the mood orientations are irrelevant in the political dynamic and also in the future relationship between IV and Pd and between Renzi and Letta I cannot see the frictions of the past as prevalent. It is politics that must prevail and will prevail. We at Italia Viva are and will be, as always, available and open to dialogue without any preconditions. For us, only the contents and the steps forward that we will try to make on the way to a new reform project count”.
But after winning the battle against the Conte 2 government and paving the way for the Draghi government, what is the strategic perspective of Italia Viva today? Will you work on the reunification of all the pro-European and reformist forces in Parliament or are you thinking of a broader and more ambitious reform plan that does not exclude a renewed convergence even in Letta's Democratic Party?
"As we also demonstrated during the recent government crisis, we do not chase seats and positional annuities or even the politics of alliances untied from a political project, but we have the ambition to make Italia Viva the engine of change in the interest of the Village. And this is what we will continue to do, both by loyally supporting Mario Draghi's reform drive and by proposing innovative contents that always aim at the modernization of the system, economic development and greater social justice. We dream of a more modern, more efficient and fairer Italy and a major reform project for the country to which we will devote all our energy without waiting for others to do it. In this logic, dialogue with all the reformist forces – from the Democratic Party to the non-sovereignist wing of Forza Italia as well as obviously +Europe and Action – is in things”.
However, every political perspective risks being ethereal if the new electoral law is not clarified. Is IV for the defense of the Rosatellum, for the majority (or with the Mattarellum or with the double shift) or for the return to proportionality with a barrier?
"We do not presume to dictate the agenda of the new electoral law but we are neither for the defense of the Rosatellum nor for the proportional system, but our propensity, at least culturally, remains that of the majority, which however should be linked to institutional and constitutional reforms , made more urgent and necessary by the cut in the number of parliamentarians".
Since she was born, Iv has certainly won all or almost all the political and parliamentary battles - crowned by the birth of the Draghi government - but your electoral consensus remains at the telephone area code level: have you wondered why the electorate does not reward you - except than in your Campania - and what can be done to recover consensus?
“We must certainly root ourselves more and better in society and we must make our political proposal for change clearer and more incisive, refining the contents and only looking for the necessary alliances afterwards, knowing that with the Draghi government we have entered a new political season in which everything got in motion as demonstrated by the first effects both in the centre-left and in the centre-right. In the shifting sands of the current political system, social reformism is the only true compass for us”.
Next week Italia Viva will also hold its National Assembly: what's new?
“We will take stock of the Draghi government and we will deepen the change of pace that awaits us too, in the sense that our way of being in the new government will no longer be the contractual one of the times of Conte 2 but the loyal, clear and convinced one of those who support fully the Draghi Government that we strongly wanted and that we want to help overcome the great challenges ahead: from accelerating the vaccination plan to rewriting the Italian plan for the Next Generation Eu and the fight against the economic and social crisis. This is our way of putting ourselves at the service of the country”
