What remains of the Italian centre-right (the one that had and perhaps still has the ambition to represent the moderates) afterwards the battle of the Quirinal? Two parties remain, Forza Italia and Ncd, in a serious political and identity crisis. Forza Italia with its founder and leader, Silvio Berlusconi, seeks to cling to what remains of the pact of the Nazarene, of which it had tried to give a broad interpretation, making it a sort of dogma which was to allow it to lead with Renzi the country and its institutions, perhaps waiting to come together in a sort of party of the nation. Yet it was precisely the other party to the pact, Matteo Renzi, who explained that this was not the case, who had immediately and publicly made it clear that it concerned only the electoral law and the constitutional reform.
In short, during the battle of the Quirinale, Berlusconi tried to play upside down, convinced that he had a sort of veto right over the solutions that Renzi and the Democratic Party were proposing. A veto that he also proposed again on Mattarella, initially playing on the side offered to him by Alfano, arguing that the method was not right. But when you choose the Head of State you vote for a name and not a method. And so, in the end, Berlusconi, pressed by the opposing currents of his party, found himself completely on the sidelines in the choice of President. He could have tried to reverse the situation by accepting the name proposed by Renzi, perhaps explaining that he only did it to protect the solidity of our institutions. In other times he would have done it, but this time he didn't have the strength, given the real gang war that agitated his party.
The yes card to Mattarella was instead played by Alfano. But even here the move seemed belated and came only after Renzi had made clear the bizarre policy of an incumbent government interior minister who voted against the President of the Republic. Translated into the vernacular he meant that the consequences on the Government would not be lacking and it would be Ncd who would be responsible for them. Hence the retreat, after an appeal by Renzi, at the request of Alfano himself. Moreover, an appeal of an absolutely general nature and addressed not to the Popular Area, but to everyone. In short: if Forza Italia cries, Ncd does not laugh.
Behind the crisis of the two parties there is above all a defect of origin. Neither of the two, beyond the slogans, has been able to represent the so-called moderates. Let's start with Berlusconi, taking a long step back. Let's go to the time of the descent into the field. The ex Cavaliere said then that he wanted to give the country a real liberal revolution. Of course, there were Fini's post-fascists on one side and Bossi's Northern League supporters on the other. Both had little liberalism. But he, Berlusconi, declared himself liberal and moderate. And he did everything, at least to appear so.
Do you remember the first parliamentary group of Forza Italia? There were liberals. And not only the former PLI secretary Alfredo Bondi, but Sartori's pupil Giuliano Urbani, the constitutionalist Rebuffa and even those who came from the left like Lucio Colletti and who, perhaps due to acquaintances with the great historian Rosario Romeo, had undertaken a tiring march towards liberal landings. Yet the season of liberal democratic intellectuals did not last long. When it came to making decisions, making lists and deciding on candidates, others counted: the Previti of "we won't take prisoners" and the Cosentinos, with a questionable and controversial biography. And so, slowly, liberal intellectuals left the field to others, without even saying they were leaving. As befits well-mannered people who have come to the wrong house.
As for Alfano's party, things didn't go very differently. Ideal issues few issues of power many. In practice Angelino has reunited a bit of Communion and Liberation (Lupi and Formigoni) a bit of fundamentalist Catholics (Giovanardi). Thus forming a kind of Forza Italia bis. Even the new party was thus more centre-right than centre. And, without prejudice to the story of Gaetano Quagliariello, almost nothing liberal.
And so the history of the last more than twenty years has shown us that the current Italian centre-right has never managed to be a real point of reference for that liberal and moderate world that survived the first Republic. It would have taken a politician of great culture and personal history. Monti tried to interpret that role, maybe Passera or Della Valle will try. But it would take a sort of revived Malagodi. You don't see them around. And in the meantime, a new Salvini-Meloni-driven right looms over Italy with the blessing of Marine Le Pen and ready to open up to the grillini.
