Analysis
The Italian left splits in two
The path of dialogue with the Democratic Party is a path increasingly impractical.
The future “progressive coalition” has put out the first save-the-dates for its campaign stops. The first is in Milan on May 19-21 and the second in Rome in mid-June.
The path of dialogue with the Democratic Party is increasingly impractical. The new-old secretary Matteo Renzi has sent daunting signals since the night of his re-election, when, in his acceptance speech to volunteers, he delivered a warning to centrists outside and inside the party: “We want to make a grand coalition with the citizens, not with the alleged parties that do not even represent themselves.” On Thursday, Matteo Orfini’s confirmation as party president was seen as another clue of the closure: He is the most outspoken politician saying no to any alliances with the left.
The message is clear. So, Giuliano Pisapia and his companions, who rejected the offer of a place on the lists of the Democratic Party, just have to take note. The former mayor will continue his united offensive. But meanwhile he’s preparing a plan B: to consolidate a “collegial leadership” capable of building a center-left coalition without the Democratic Party. ”The lonely man in command is not the only formation,” Chamber President Laura Boldrini the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Bersani and D’Alema are doing the same thing: From the beginning they’ve opposed any reunification with the Democratic Party. On May 1 in Ravenna, the MDP launched its recruitment and card program. The new card bears a quote from Enrico Berlinguer: “We’ll go forward if we act together.” Roberto Speranza and Arturo Scotto signed the first 200 cards to the “Big Workers’ Barbecue,” in keeping with Boldrini’s vegetarian conversion.
But the risk of the left of being perceived as yet another small party is around the corner. “We want to combine politics and culture. We want to be identified as the force that is fighting to achieve another right, after the years when the left was considered as the one with a fewer rights,” Scotto said.
Everybody will be in Milan between the 19th and the 21st, from D’Alema to Bersani. Then, Pisapia will convene the following meeting by mid-June in Rome, where his network Campo Progressista will merge with the Corporation.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/coalizione-progressista-in-due-tappe/ on 2017-05-05