"The best thing for the country would be the vote in the autumn, even with this government and with this electoral law". The deputy secretary of the Pd, Enrico Letta explains that "the parliamentary verification has ended, giving us a Berlusconi who is trying to resist and survive, but who is practically no longer able to govern". The political picture has practically turned upside down for three reasons. The first, explains Letta, is that “the direct relationship between the prime minister and the people has gone into crisis; the second is that, precisely for this reason, he is now entrenched in parliamentary liturgies, that is to say that he shields himself from the 317 majority votes that he managed to field in the Chamber. A majority which, however, he manages to scrape together only on the occasion of votes of confidence, when thanks to long notice he manages to bring all the ministers and all the undersecretaries into the parliamentary halls. In normal parliamentary life, on the other hand, the majority goes under all the time. In the face of all this, the government agenda has grown heavier. Locking is no longer enough. Now a 40 billion maneuver must be implemented, there is tax reform, there is growth policy. Berlusconi could tackle such an agenda in 2.008, when he had a large majority and was on his honeymoon with his electorate”.
Furthermore, according to Letta, we have to deal with a picture of the international economy that is anything but encouraging. “The bailout of Greece is far from definite. Unforeseen events may arise which would immediately impact countries which, like ours, have the highest public debt, and which, perhaps, have a growth rate now below 1%”. These are the main reasons that push the deputy secretary of the Democratic Party to pronounce himself for elections in the autumn. Yeah, but what if that's not possible? In this case, Letta is convinced that a plan B must be used. That is to say, "an institutional government that confirms the budget objectives set with Europe and allows Parliament to carry out an electoral reform"
This should “ensure that voters can choose their own representatives either with single-member constituencies or with preferential voting; avoid the risk of different majorities in the two chambers; insert wide thresholds and in any case correct the current majority premium”. At the same time, parliamentarians should be reduced and a Senate of the regions should be aimed for, with second-level representatives, i.e. chosen by Municipalities and Regions". But what does institutional government mean? The model for Letta, who absolutely does not want to name names on possible prime ministers, will in any case be "that of the Ciampi government". But now it's time for maneuver, the 40 billion one. Letta observes: "The Government, confirming what has already been promised by Tremonti, must immediately indicate a road map to reduce our public debt, according to what Europe is asking of us".
And such a goal would also be that of a future centre-left government. Because, adds the deputy secretary of the Democratic Party, “the great absentees from Berlusconi's speech in Parliament were the liberalizations, the openings to the markets, which should be the basis of our programme. We must not misunderstand the results and effects of a specific referendum such as the one on water. Since we have no intention of extending to other fields an advertising system that we have relied on for water. Liberalizations and sheets are always more than current for us". Yet the elections in Naples and Milan demonstrate that the people of the centre-left welcome candidates with marked outlines.
Letta recalls that starting with Merola in Bologna and Fassino in Turin, the candidates of the Democratic Party have often passed to the first round and have received undoubted favour". And then he adds that precisely "Pisapia's way of moving in Milan demonstrates that the engine of the coalition alternative to Berlusconi's can only be the Democratic Party". Naturally with a broad coalition that includes "both the third pole and Vendola and Di Pietro". Because the problems that the new government will face "cannot be faced with majorities with barely sufficient numbers". As for the choice of the center-left candidate for prime minister, it will go through the primary elections. For which, concludes Letta, "the Democratic Party has fielded a candidate like Pierluigi Bersani, who has a very marked but also very unifying political identity".
