Bruno Tabacci, leader of the Democratic and Christian Democratic Center since ever, is a purebred politician, full of passion but also of realism and is used to going against the tide. But his adhesion to the newborn Campo Progressista of Giuliano Pisapia, a movement that aims to regenerate the center-left but which is located to the left of the Democratic Party, causes a sensation. From the "Marxists for Tabacci", what was the name of that picturesque group of Sardinian boys who supported Tabacci's candidacy in the last primaries of the Democratic Party to "Tabacci for Marxism"? He denies and assures that he has never denied his roots but is convinced that it is necessary to open a new season of Italian politics and that Pisapia is "a reassuring, authoritative and inclusive leader", the right man to relaunch a new centre-left, "a new Prodi”. But on what programmatic basis, with what traveling companions and with what political perspectives was the Progressive Camp born? Bruno Tabacci tells it in this interview with FIRSTonline.
Honorable Tabacci, you are one of those Christian Democrats who have never denied and do not deny your origins and who in the DC have always placed themselves with the left of Base as a favorite pupil of Giovanni "Albertino" Marcora: you will admit that moving from the DC is even through the Democratic Center of which he is leader, to Campo Progressista, that is to the left of Giuliano Pisapia's left, it is quite a leap. What drove her?
“It all started last November. After a lifetime of battles, I intended to leave politics and Parliament. But we have seen and heard from Giuliano Pisapia, with whom I have a longstanding relationship of esteem and friendship that was consolidated when in 2011 he wanted me as budget assessor in his Arcobaleno council of Milan. In that conversation Pisapia confessed to me that, after having been mayor, he no longer had the desire to go back to being just a lawyer, that he missed politics and that he was thinking of a completely new initiative that would bring together the progressive camp from below function of a renewed centre-left without single men in command. He convinced and impassioned me and that is why I enthusiastically joined Campo Progressista also involving friends from the Democratic Center ”.
In short, from "Marxists for Tabacci", as the list of that nice and ironic group of Sardinian boys who supported it in the last Pd primaries was called, to "Tabacci for Marxists"? Honorable, however you turn it, your choice is a surprise for many that cannot be explained only by personal relations with Pisapia. What are the real reasons for her change of course?
“I think people should know how to deal with the different phases of history they encounter but, beyond the different political experiences I came across after the end of the Christian Democrats, I have always remained faithful to my ideal and political origins, which are those of the peasants of my town in the Mantua area, Quistello, and of the inspiration of don Primo Mazzolari, the parish priest of Bozzolo, and those of my teacher Giovanni "Albertino" Marcora, who chose to be a Christian partisan and the Resistance and then became head of the base current of the DC and who has always considered himself a man of the left, where left means fighting for the weakest and the marginalized. I remain tied to my Christian Democrat roots and I am not afraid of contamination, but today, as Giuliano Pisapia said in the appeal and in the Manifesto of the Progressive Camp, there is a need for Good Politics, a new hope, a new agenda and a new way of doing politics and he is a reassuring, authoritative, inclusive leader, always open to dialogue and capable of joining and mobilizing forces on an ambitious and original project such as that of regenerating and relaunching a new center-left. That's why I said that he reminds me of Romano Prodi ”.
Prodi? But doesn't your blood boil when you recall that Pisapia was a deputy in the parliamentary group of the Communist Refoundation which in 98 brought down the first Prodi government? Are we facing a dream or a historical nemesis?
“That episode was precisely the watershed in the political history of Giuliano Pisapia who, in full break with the leader of the Communist Refoundation, Fausto Bertinotti, voted in favor of the Prodi government and then resigned as president of the Justice Commission of the Chamber. Since then Pisapia has embarked on his own independent progressive political path, in which there is no trace of maximalism and populism but instead there is continuous attention to the innovations of our era and there is the search for a modern government left that is up to the challenges of change of our times”.
He will admit that there is still much vagueness about the programmatic contents of the Campo Progressista that Pisapia's Manifesto itself does not dissolve at all. Let's test the truth about the Renzi government's reforms (from the Jobs Act to schools, from civil unions to banks) that you too approved in Parliament: should they be stopped and overturned, as Bersani and the CGIL are asking, or should they be relaunched?
“I voted for those reforms in Parliament and I do not deny them, because I shared the desire to modernize the country, but this does not exclude that they need to be better implemented and in some cases corrected, such as on vouchers which can be a useful tool to defeat undeclared work but must remain confined to occasional work relationships, or as on the abolition of the IMU on first homes, which I have always considered a mistake, or on the reform of the PA, which must be developed also in the light of the findings of the Constitutional Court. I want to be very clear about the Renzi government and the former prime minister: his defect was not his dynamism with regard to reforms but his carelessness which, beyond his intentions for renewal, sometimes led him astray. In any case, no misunderstandings: the reforms must be done better and must have a higher rate of sociality but they must absolutely continue".
The real test of blood to the reformism of Pisapia's movement will be done on economic policy. There is a retro wind that is blowing strongly and which goes from nostalgia for the State as manager of the economy to the old "tax and spend" recipe for growth, to the illusion that wealth can be redistributed without producing it and without raising productivity, to the halt of privatizations and liberalizations up to the illusory grilline shortcuts such as the basic income to face the drama of unemployment or the temptation to leave the euro: will the Campo Progressista also be seduced by it?
“You can't accuse a program that doesn't exist yet of vagueness. After the constituent assembly on March 11, the Campo Progressista will open in Rome and Milan what Pisapia has called the Program Workshops, which will try to offer a reading of the new times without the weight of old ideological paraphernalia. I personally think that the compass of the Progressive Camp's programmatic platform should be the social market economy, but we won't get away with just trendy slogans and labels. Today's problems are very complex and do not allow for simplistic solutions as populism of the right and left would have us believe. From 1970 to today the world population has more than doubled, there has been a disruptive development of new technologies with its effects on employment, the badly managed arrival of globalization, the immigration boom and its dramas: above all this a modern government left must measure itself without preconceptions and seek answers. And I believe that the Officine will amaze you and will be able to put forward proposals under the banner of pragmatism and innovation”.
Waiting to know the programs, help us to better decipher the political perspective of the Progressive Camp: admitted and not granted that you win the next elections, there are many stages before arriving at a new center-left. First of all: who should lead the new centre-left government if it wins the elections? Renzi or not?
“This will be established by the coalition primaries in which it will be natural for Campo Progressista to participate with Giuliano Pisapia, the only leader who has the inclusive ability to put together an area, that of the centre-left, which today appears fragmented. Whoever wins, leads the government if he receives the consent of the voters. We have no prejudices on the premiership and we do not accept any. The area of political subjects who can run to make a new centre-left win can be as wide as possible and certainly, apart from us, a fundamental role belongs to the Democratic Party whoever it will lead, but the only discriminating factor we set is that of the alliance for the new government does not belong to the right. And therefore not even Angelino Alfano's group, which not by chance is called the New Center Right ".
Let's come to the more immediate political choices: how does Campo Progressista fit with respect to the Gentiloni government, which is notoriously a copycat government of the Renzi government?
“Campo Progressista will be born on March 11 in Rome. But it is logical to think that, as Professor Prodi says, the focus is on the natural expiry of the legislature. Hence the full support for the Gentiloni government which we hope will not be considered a pawn in the game within the Democratic Party. The government in office has many important answers to give, starting from Europe and the requests on the budget maneuver put forward by Brussels. Gentiloni and Padoan must assert Italy's good reasons knowing that budget flexibility is useful but is not a synonym for greater current spending to the detriment of the weakest”.
Then there is the very complicated passage of a new electoral law: what is the line of the Progressive Field on the thresholds, leaders and majority bonuses?
“We are in complete agreement with the President of the Republic when he reminds us that to return to the polls we need a new electoral law that builds on the findings of the Constitutional Court on the Italicum and above all on the reference to homogeneous rules for the Chamber and the Senate which make it possible governance. Therefore it will be necessary to harmonize the thresholds which today range from 8% in the Senate to 3% in the Chamber: a balanced threshold should be 4%. Instead, the blockade of the leaders nominated by the parties: the corrective of the draw suggested by the Consulta is not enough. As for the majority bonus for those who get 40% of the votes, it seems wise to me that it should be reserved for the coalition and not for the winning party list".
What will you do if Bersani and D'Alema ask you to join the Progressive Camp?
“As I said before, I wouldn't place any prejudicials, if not for the right, but I wouldn't want to suffer them either. We need a new center-left without ifs and buts, which is based on the Pd-Campo Progressista axis but also on all the other forces that share the same political and programmatic perspective. We respectfully await the Pd congress and the coalition primaries and then we will see what the outcome will be”.
And what relationship will you have with Beppe Grillo's 5 Star Movement?
"We are an alternative to all populisms in any case disguised and therefore also to the 5 Star Movement and its impossible and devastating request for a referendum to exit the euro".
Honorable Member, in two months we will vote in France: if Le Pen wins, Europe will fall apart. Have you thought about it?
“I continue to hope that the wisdom of the French will not let itself be clouded by Le Pen's false xenophobic, protectionist, nationalist and anti-European sirens and that France's two-round electoral system will help bring a democratic candidate to the Elysée. And I also hope that the French will have the opportunity to reflect on the very clear words pronounced on the future of Europe and the euro by a great Italian of whom we must be proud like Mario Draghi, whose spirit of service to democracy will also be very useful in Italy when, in two years, he will have completed his role as president of the ECB".
