Il Carlo Calenda's party is experiencing a very eventful moment: in just 48 hours, four big names have said goodbye Action. After thefarewell by Enrico Costa, it fell to Mariastella Gelmini, Mara Carfagna e Giusy Versace. The reason? Action's approach to the infamous “wide field” (the one that unites Pd, M5S and Avs) in view of the regional in Liguria, Emilia-Romagna and Umbria.
This mass exodus had been in the air since the European elections, when Calenda decided not to ally himself with Renzi to try to reach a quorum. Then came the straw that broke the camel's back: the agreement with the center-left in Liguria, supporting Andrea Orlando. Even Carfagna, who at the time was president of Azione, had already clearly said that he was not in agreement, so much so that he refused to run for the European elections.
Gelmini, Carfagna, Costa and Versace: here's why they're leaving Azione
It was he who opened the dance Enrico Costa, who, faced with a party increasingly shifting towards the "broad field", preferred to return to the love of his youth, Forza Italia. Costa explained that "if in three out of three regions voting Azione sides with the broad field, it is difficult to define it as third and in the center" and said he wanted to continue his liberal battles elsewhere.
Then it was the turn of Mariastella Gelmini, whose release had been long-awaited, but now it's official: "My journey in Action ends today". A farewell accompanied by cordial tones - "unchanged esteem for Calenda" - but the problem remains the shift towards M5S and Avs: a political direction that he cannot share. The destination? For now the Mixed Group, but rumors speak of a one-way ticket to Maurizio Lupi's Noi Moderati, with whom contacts date back to the summer.
In the evening, too Mara Carfagna she announced that she was leaving, but in a decidedly more polemical way: “I learned from an agency note that she has left Azione”. Not exactly the way she wanted to communicate it. She also confirmed her dissent for the shift towards the left, saying that her political and personal history lead her to look elsewhere. Destination? Once again, the moderate centre-right.
Then, right after that, it also arrived giusy versace, another former Forza Italia member, who was not indifferent to Azione's new political line. "I had already expressed my disappointment before the summer," she declared, reiterating that she could no longer support Calenda's project.
With this loss of weight, Azione finds itself with only one senator in Palazzo Madama (Marco Lombardo) and a party in fibrillation even in the Chamber, where there are those who are thinking of getting closer to the PD. How will it end?
