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"More space for democratic Catholics inside and outside the PD. The party? I have never abandoned it": interview with Delrio

On January 18th in Milan, “Comunità democratica” will debut, the association of Catholic Democrats promoted, among others, by Senator Graziano Delrio: “Schlein? The ferments of rebirth of the Catholic-democratic culture have nothing to do with the internal logic of the Democratic Party. I and the promoters have never abandoned the party unlike others”. And on Gentiloni as a federator: “Lunar discussion”

"More space for democratic Catholics inside and outside the PD. The party? I have never abandoned it": interview with Delrio

In December 2023, at the annual convention of the Catholic Democrats, the secretary of the Democratic Party Elly Schlein, present as a guest, said: “Without the contribution of the democratic catholics neither would exist Pd nor our extraordinary community, just as the Constitution would not exist. This is and will continue to be the home of this extraordinary political culture”. Yes, because without culture there is no politics. It is true that the Catholic-democratic culture, alive and well in the territories and local communities, at the dawn of 2025 decides to reorganize itself into a “source of thought” that has the objective of giving back public voice to democratic Catholicism and ability to propose to the center left.

An association, therefore (the word “currents” has long been banned), which takes the name of Democratic community and which will debut next January 18 in Milan. The initiative is promoted by the Democratic Party senator Graziano Delrio – former undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council, minister and president of Anci – in an event in which noble fathers of the “adult Catholics” will speak, such as Romano Prodi e Pierluigi Castagnetti, intellectuals of the area such as Ernesto Maria Ruffini, former director of the Revenue Agency indicated by some as possible aggregator of a downtown area, and, together with them, a network of personalities from the cultural and political world. There are those who immediately spoke of a new Margherita and those who instead hinted that perhaps the person internal logic that Schlein has been able to enjoy up to now. Delrio however underlines: "The internal logic of the Democratic Party has nothing to do with" January 18, "me and the promoters" of the Democratic Community "we never left the party, unlike others."

Senator Delrio, when you announced the birth of the Democratic Community with Prodi, Castagnetti, Ruffini and other democratic Catholics for next January 18th in Milan, you were blunt and your words had the flavour of an ultimatum to Schlein: “We ask – you said – for greater acceptance and space, in the PD or even outside the PD”. Does this mean that if Schlein does not accept your request, you are ready for a split?

"The Milan conference is an opportunity for discussion in the face of the three great crises of the present historical moment: war, Europe and democracy. I said that we must give presence and value to the Catholic democratic culture - which is expressed inside and outside the Democratic Party - to combat the crises I was talking about, which are then the crisis of politics. There is no other logic than to give a contribution and listen to what is happening around us. This conference is to listen to the cultural ferments of the social weeks of Trieste".

Exactly what do you dislike about Schlein's policies?

“I repeat that it has nothing to do with the internal logic of the Democratic Party. There are ferments of rebirth of the Catholic-democratic culture that are in the field to give new answers to the changing society. Intellectual ferments and administrative laboratories that make the wealth of local communities. And you cannot give the Catholic world rich in ferments to abstentionism or to the right”.

And what do you propose? What are the discriminating factors for remaining in the Democratic Party?

“I and the other promoters have never abandoned the Democratic Party unlike others. And we have already held several cultural conferences in recent years. There is no discrimination”.

What exactly is Comunità democratica? An independent group, a current of the PD or a sort of new Margherita? Is it aimed only at democratic Catholics or at all internal and external reformists of the PD?

"It is an association that wants to promote the modernity of a culture that has brought this country to be a protagonist in Europe and in the world by giving contributions to the Constitution, to the social market economy and to the European Community, just to say. And it has done so not by closing itself in fundamentalist deliriums but by secularly meeting liberal and socialist cultures. And that can still give a lot in the defense of individual and collective freedoms threatened by omnipresent technologies and powers concentrated in a few hands".

Will the Catholic Democratic area that you propose to revive in the center-left also dialogue with Matteo Renzi, Carlo Calenda and Emma Bonino?

“The richness of democratic and social Catholicism is also expressed in other formations besides those mentioned and not only in the Democratic Party. Trying to talk to everyone about the crises in which we are immersed is a duty”.

Is it true that you think of Paolo Gentiloni as a unifier of all the souls of the center-left and as a possible candidate for prime minister in the next political elections as an alternative to Giorgia Meloni but also to Elly Schlein?

"The discussion on the federator seems to me to be a lunar discussion. The center-left must focus on a shared and credible government project and not on future structures. We must convince ordinary people that the center of our attention is their difficulties and not our balances. It seems to me that this conviction is maturing in the leaders of the respective parties and therefore I am confident."

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