"Berlusconi president? Only of the PDL". Robert Maroni he has no doubts, but the situation is not at all clear and the center-right is mounting controversy over the name to be proposed for Palazzo Chigi. To rekindle the fuse was the presentation of the electoral symbol pidiellino, on which the words "Berlusconi president" stands out as in 2008. An ambiguity which, despite the secretary's reassurances, generates discontent above all in the Northern League base.
The fundamental condition underlying the new-found alliance between the two parties was precisely that the Knight should give up running once again for the seat of Premier. Berlusconi he had unblocked the situation by declaring himself available, in case of victory, to occupy the seat of Minister of Economy. Maroni, for his part, had indicated Giulio Tremonti as the premier candidate favored by the League. The secretary of the Carroccio thus removed his name from the symbol for policies and announced that he will not run for national consultations, but only in Lombardy.
With an eye to the polls - which still see them at a disadvantage -, the two parties will therefore arrive at the polls without proposing a single name for the presidency of the Council. A choice consistent with the electoral law (the office of prime minister is conferred by the President of the Republic after consultations), but contrary to the custom that has established itself over the last few legislatures.
Berlusconi wants to avoid exasperation at all costs the disagreements in the coalition on the issue of leadership and in his last television appearance he reaffirmed the new line once again: “The candidate for Prime Minister will be chosen later, but I have no intention of being prime minister for the sixth time. I much prefer to be the minister of the economy and development”.
Meanwhile, Pidiellino's balancing act is put to the test by his Democratic opponents. In recent days, the secretary of the Democratic Party, Pier Luigi Bersani, had clarified that he was not prepared for a televised confrontation with Berlusconi: "I only do TV confrontations with the candidates at Palazzo Chigi". The Pidiellini are "the only ones who don't have a prime minister candidate," added the deputy secretary, Enrico Read.
To feed the controversy in the ranks of the right there is also the question of the so-called "unpresentable“. Less than two months ago, the secretary of the PDL, Angelino Alfano, had guaranteed that he would not be a candidate in the party primaries if people under investigation by the judiciary also showed up. The primaries then skipped, on the other hand the suspects have returned to populating the latest electoral lists of the PDL.
In the front row in Naples Nicola Cosentino (defendant in two trials for complicity in a Camorra association, corruption and reuse of illicit capital aggravated by mafia purposes and recipient of two prison custody orders not authorized by Parliament), Marco Milanese (also under investigation for corruption), Luigi cesaro (investigated for violation of banking regulations in one of the investigations into Cosentino, even if the Public Prosecutor's Office has removed his position and could ask for it to be dismissed). And Marcello Dell'Utri knocks on the door again.
