Gianni Cuperlo resigns from the leadership of the Democratic Party. The decision comes less than 24 hours after hard fight over the electoral law had with the secretary Matteo Renzi during the last direction of the Pd.
“I am resigning because I am struck and alarmed by a conception of the party and of confrontation within it that cannot bend towards homogenization, of language and thought – writes Cuperlo in the letter of resignation addressed to Renzi -. I resign because I love the Democratic Party and I want to commit myself to strengthening the ideas and values of the rethought left without which this party would simply cease to exist. I resign because I want to have the freedom to always say what I think. I want to be able to applaud, criticize, disagree, without this appearing to anyone as an abuse of the position that for a few weeks I have tried to fill to the best of my ability".
“In yesterday's management – continues Cuperlo – I spoke on the merits of the reforms and on the method we followed. I expressed my appreciation for the acceleration you have imparted to the debate and shared the goal of a decisive reform for the maintenance of our democratic and institutional structure. There was no bias towards the work you have done in the past days and weeks. Useful and precious work, not for one part but for the whole country".
The outgoing President then reiterated "some doubts about the merits of the proposed new electoral law". “In particular – he reiterated – the effects of a threshold that is too low – 35 percent – for the release of a majority bonus. Too high a threshold - 8 percent - for non-coalition forces and a serious limit in once again not allowing citizens the direct choice of their representative. Doubts that, moreover, I find authoritatively illustrated this morning on the pages of the main newspapers by personalities and scholars far more authoritative than me. Finally, I expressed a political assessment of the method followed in the construction of the proposal and I closed with a reminder not to consider the discussion between us as an irrelevant parenthesis for the purposes of improving the solutions".
“In your reply I heard the confirmation that the reforms under discussion represent a closed package and therefore cannot be amended or improved under penalty of halting the process, at least in the modalities it has assumed – continues Cuperlo -. Up to a direct reference to me and to the fact that I would have instrumentally raised the issue of preferences with all the lack of credibility of someone who carefully avoided placing that argument upon his (that is, mine) entry into the Chamber in a list blocked".
Cuperlo disputes Renzi for having "responded to political and substantive objections with a personal attack: I believe that a governing body and a political community cannot function where meetings are convened, take place, but where space and expression some differences end in an irritation of the majority and, with some frequency, in a consequent delegitimization of the interlocutor. I don't think it's a right, wise method, appropriate to the ambitions of a party like the Democratic Party and to the hopes that this new season, and your personal success, have activated".
Finally, Cuperlo replies to those who have accused him of hatred: “I have no feelings of envy, let alone resentment. I don't even resign for a joke that slipped away or the gratuitous taste of an offense. Even if we have years behind us during which the language of politics has gone as far as it ever should have gone, and everything was always and only classified as a joke".
