Just under half of Italy. Seven regions up for grabs between this autumn and next spring. from North to South, from Calabria to Veneto, passing through Puglia, Campania, Umbria, Marche, Tuscany, Emilia Romagna and Liguria. The first major test for the centre-left led by Matteo Renzi, after the European elections which had sanctioned the beginning of the honeymoon between the prime minister and the Italian electorate.
The mission, for the center-left, is to improve, or at least confirm, the result of the previous regional session, which spoke of 6 regions to 3, among those interested. If the trend shown in the Europeans were to continue, however, there would also be a concrete possibility of en plein on the horizon.
A possibility that Renzi, it seems, would be interested in pursuing even at the cost of penalizing some of his trusted men. The priority, in fact, is to choose strong men in the territories, also closing, where necessary, agreements with the minorities headed by Bersani and Cuperlo.
The different situations, however, will be evaluated individually. In Tuscany Renzi has already launched the candidacy of the outgoing president Enrico Rossi, a man not very close to the prime minister, pushing away the possibility of resorting to the primaries.
In Emilia, Calabria, Veneto, Campania and Puglia, on the other hand, the primaries will take place. On the field, Renzi's men, but not only. The goal is the en plein. To reach it, the premier keeps all the doors open. but the news of the last hour, destined to stir things up and upset the balance, is yesterday's announcement by the regional secretary of Emilia and Romagna, Stefano Bonaccin,i, who is very close to Renzi, to stand as a candidate in the primaries to succeed Vasco Errani: thus ending the agreement between the prime minister and Bersani who insisted on the mayor of Imola, Daniele Manca, however considered by most to be a gray bureaucrat, whose candidacy had also raised the ire of the Prodians who hoped for the leadership of professor Patrizio Bianchi , current regional councilor and former rector of the University of Ferrara. Manca retired but, on the other hand, an open clash between the Renzians is looming in the primaries because, in addition to that of Bonaccini, the Catholic and ex Margherita, Matteo Richetti, is in the field. Renzi took it philosophically: "It will be a good challenge".
