From Giuseppe Conte to SuperMario Draghi but in the past from joining the center-right majority led by Silvio Berlusconi to councilor in Milan in Giuliano Pisapia's left-wing council. Bruno Tabacci, leader of the Democratic Center and undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of the Draghi Government with the delegation for the coordination of economic policy for a few days, has always accustomed us to the twists and turns. But no one would ever think of considering him a turncoat not only because Tabacci is a notoriously decent man with a single professional passion: politics. But also because in his long political career Tabacci has loved only one party: the Christian Democrats, his first and only love. “I was, am and will only be a Christian Democrat”. With the death of the DC, Tabacci considered the other parties (from the UDC to the Democratic Center) and the various factions to which he has turned coupled only as taxis in which to get on and off to hit the real goal that has always been close to his heart: that of a moderately progressive and centre-left politics. Without taking these points of reference into account, little would be understood about the politician Tabacci and his repeated wanderings within a pro-European and reformist design with variable geometry. This does not mean that his recent political moves have caused a sensation. In this interview with FIRSTonline, the first given since he became undersecretary in the Draghi government, Tabacci explains the rationale.
Honorable Tabacci, in a few weeks you have gone from defending Prime Minister Conte to the bitter end and from seeking defectors in his support (the so-called "responsible") to the post of undersecretary to the Presidency of the new Prime Minister Draghi for the coordination of economic policy: you will admit that it is too acrobatic a jump to be considered normal and it is not surprising that someone accuses her of transformism. How does she defend herself?
"It seems to me that there is a lot of confusion. As long as the possibility of avoiding the fall of Count 2 and, in the days immediately following, the hypothesis of creating a Count ter remained, I believed that every effort should be made to preserve the last chance to conclude the legislature with a political government supported by a convinced pro-European majority. In those days, however, I repeatedly stated publicly that, if we had failed, the only alternative would have been a government by the President. I have never looked for defectors, but only appealed to anyone who recognized themselves in Europeanism. I understand that the Constitution, fortunately, does not provide for the mandate constraint for parliamentarians. Once Conte ter's possibilities were exhausted, only afterwards did President Mattarella intervene, entrusting the task to Mario Draghi, the Italian who enjoys the most prestige in the world. Salvini voted for him, shouldn't I have voted for him?
Would he do everything he did again in 2021 or do he think in hindsight that he has made some political misjudgment? In particular, what was the point of defending Conte with drawn sword if there was then the possibility of reaching a premier like Draghi, of international prestige and unquestionably superior professional competence?
"Of course I would do it all over again. As I have already tried to explain, the Draghi hypothesis did not exist until the day the Head of State called the former ECB president to give him the job. Otherwise, it is not explained why Mattarella himself, after Conte's resignation, did not immediately appoint Draghi, but turned to the president of the Fico Chamber to check up to the last minute whether there was a residual possibility of putting the outgoing majority back together.
Did you expect the appointment as undersecretary of the Presidency of the Council for the coordination of economic policy? And what exactly does your current job consist of? Can it be said that, in a certain sense, you are in charge of the CIPE?
«I didn't expect anything and of course I am honored to be part of a government led by a personality whose competence and authority is recognized and esteemed throughout the world. The delegation that the Prime Minister has entrusted to me concerns Cipess, the interministerial committee which, in addition to economic planning, will now have to deal with another central issue such as sustainable development, but also the leadership of the Strategia Italia control room, concerning urban areas with reference to Investitalia projects, the coordination of policies concerning tangible and intangible infrastructures and those of space and aerospace".
You met Mario Draghi about 40 years ago, when you were together on the staff of the then Treasury Minister, Giovanni Goria: has he changed a lot since then and how does he work today as prime minister? What impression did you get from the first weeks of the Draghi government?
«I have known and consider myself a friend of President Draghi since the early 80s, but I don't think my opinion is important. The facts speak for him, he is the man who saved the euro and Europe from a crisis that would have devastated the most indebted countries first and foremost, namely Italy. It is clear that his arrival at Palazzo Chigi has restored our full centrality in the continental assembly and has relaunched our Europeanism and Atlanticism at the highest levels. With Draghi, Italy has perhaps a unique opportunity to take on the leading role alongside France and Germany in the process of relaunching Europe in the new world that the whole Old Continent has enormous need for. We hope that the country as a whole will be able to seize this opportunity".
He will admit that both in terms of vaccines and the rewriting of the Recovery Plan Draghi immediately imposed a change of pace and that perhaps it was worth betting on him at Palazzo Chigi. Or not?
«I believe that President Draghi did very well in appointing General Figliuolo and the new head of Civil Protection Curcio in view of the next few months of the vaccination campaign. And I'm sure that the best is being done to write a Recovery Plan capable of starting a new season of growth for the country when we emerge from the health emergency. But I wonder what is the use of this constant contrast between the current government and the previous one. Would it have been better to have Draghi at Palazzo Chigi before the Conte 1, Gentiloni, Renzi governments and so on? Maybe yes. But we would not have had Draghi at the ECB. So, I repeat, what is the point of trying to write history with ifs and buts?».
Honorable Member, it is not a question of writing history with ifs and buts, but of debunking the absurd postulate that haunted Italian politics at the beginning of the year according to which the only possibility was the confirmation of Conte's premiership. Facts have shown that this was not the case and that a new, even better, government was possible. But let's get back to us. The so-called leaders, whom you gathered in defense of Conte 2, now find themselves living in an unprecedented political scenario and some of them seem to show their intention to go home: how will your entire parliamentary group behave vis-à-vis the Government Dragons?
«The term responsible does not convince me and I reject any approach to the Democratic Center, a political force that, albeit small, now has its own history having been present in Parliament since 2013. Apart from the Lega, Forza Italia and Pd, no other party has a past as lasting. Our position has always been the same since day one: the centre-left. The other essential connotation is Europeanism. With these premises, the only truly incomprehensible thing would have been to deny our support both to the previous government and to the current one".
How do you evaluate the political platform with which Enrico Letta was elected new secretary of the Democratic Party and how do you evaluate the distinction he made with respect to the Zingaretti secretariat between dialogue with the entire reformist arc (from Leu to Calenda and Renzi) and interlocution politics but without subjection to Giuseppe Conte's Five Stars?
«The arrival of a personality who enjoys all my esteem like Enrico Letta is the result, in the meantime, of the gesture of great generosity of his predecessor, Nicola Zingaretti, who among others had the merit of recalling the Movimento 5 to the pro-European camp Stars. Now the task that awaits Enrico Letta is to take a further step forward: the creation of a broad progressive field, which is able to compete with the center-right for victory in the next elections. An effort of maturity is required of all. To the 5 Stars, to the liberal reformist area and also to the Pd itself, which must leave behind the deleterious majority vocation. But on this Enrico Letta has already shown that he has clear ideas».
Under certain conditions and in a context of majority electoral law, is the re-edition of a sort of Ulivo 2.0 feasible? And with what forces?
«I believe that the intuition I had together with Giuliano Pisapia some years ago, that of the progressive camp, is still fully current. And this goes beyond the electoral law».
What realistically will be the electoral field in which future political elections will be played? Is Rosatellum reformable? Will there be some form of majority rule or will there be a return to proportional representation? And which electoral system do your preferences go to?
«In my opinion, the most suitable electoral system for our country is and remains the proportional system with preferences, because it offers citizens the possibility of choosing the party and candidate with which they identify most. But if the conditions really weren't there, a predominantly majority mixed system like that of the Mattarellum could also work. Beyond the electoral formula, what matters is raising the quality of the political proposal. The current government, having allowed the clash between opposing sides to be placed in parentheses, offers a perhaps unique opportunity for the parties to seize and try to overcome this challenge".
Is Mario Draghi the natural candidate for the next Presidency of the Republic or can new candidates appear? In any case, do you think that Draghi will conclude his mandate as prime minister in the presidential elections or that it would be useful for him to reach the end of the legislature to have more time to carry out reforms and secure the country?
«President Draghi has already answered this question in a very serious and I would say flawless way. As long as Parliament trusts him, he will continue. The ball is in the hands of Parliament. The Chambers will decide who will be the next Head of State».
I share Tabacci's views