The final vote in the Chamber will take place this afternoon, but the aftermath of the "political" maneuver has already begun. And so if the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano defines the fact that in just five days it was possible to approve the anti-crisis measures "a miracle", the League begins to distance itself from Berlusconi with three "strong" indications from its leader Umberto Bossi.
Who yesterday evening did not hesitate to say three things: 1) The Executive, even after the vote on the maneuver, "is not safe"; 2) if Bersani and the opposition "want a caretaker government they must talk to me"; 3) on the arrest of the PDL parliamentarian Alfonso Papa for the League "it is better to vote yes".
Three heavy indications that certainly must have alarmed a Prime Minister who, in recent days, has chosen the line of keeping as far out of the way as possible with respect to Parliament's approval of the anti-deficit decree. Even if today Berlusconi should be in the courtroom in Montecitorio, given that he canceled a visit to Serbia, citing precisely the parliamentary commitments for the approval of the maneuver.
However, one thing is clear: the Prime Minister's first concern was and is to reaffirm that he has the majority in Parliament and that therefore, national cohesion or not, the Government is in a position to go on until the end of the Legislature, remaining self-sufficient . This postulate is now being put to the test by Bossi's departure from the marker.
At a time when ministers (see the Romano case) and PDL MPs (Milanese and the Pope) are under fire from prosecutors. Meanwhile, the oppositions on the one hand confirm their request for resignation from the Government, on the other, as did the president of the senators of the Democratic Party Anna Finocchiaro, they claim the merit of the speed with which the maneuver was approved, to which moreover confirmed their vote against.
There is no doubt, however, that so far the third pole and the centre-left are the ones who have most promptly accepted Napolitano's invitations, reiterated yesterday, for national cohesion. This fact was publicly acknowledged, in the hall of Palazzo Madama, by Giulio Tremonti, when he said: "We are different, but today not so divided".
And Finocchiaro's speech in the classroom, in some ways, recalled that of Filippo Turati, when the day after Caporetto, he stated in the Chamber: "Even for the socialists today the homeland is on the Grappa". After Caporetto there was Vittorio Veneto. But with a new general: Diaz in place of Cadorna.
