The program table will open on Saturday, but the discussion between the center-left leaders has already taken place at the Brancaccio theater in Rome, at a CGIL assembly, with secretary Maurizio Landini acting as host and also a bit of prompter.
Many positions were in agreement, also thanks to a notable omission: the word Ukraine did not appear, no one said it. Among the points in common are the first things the government needs to do: minimum wage, abolish the Bossi-Fini law and also the security decrees. Among those of discord there is the patrimonial one.
However, on the friendly stage of the CGIL, smiles and several rounds of applause crossed between the secretary of the Democratic Party Elly Schlein, the president of the M5S Giuseppe Conte, the AVS co-spokesmen Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni. And then the secretary of Più Europa Riccardo Magi and the group leader of Iv Maria Elena Boschi.
While the big progressives converged on Brancaccio, the news arrived of the start of the program table, the one with the group leaders of the broad camp forces and the representatives of the centrist ones, who will have to define the lines of the program. Appointment for early Saturday afternoon, via video conference. Another call, like the one last Friday between the leaders to set the stages: program by November, primaries by February.
In short, among many calls, the leaders attended the CGIL. With the Ukraine issue missing, the only real underlying squeal came when talking about the assets of the super-rich. It is a proposal from Avs, which Conte has always rejected: "Where it was made it didn't work", he reiterated.
The Democratic Party had until now held a less clear position. Which Schlein suddenly transformed into a real opening: "We are in favor of taxing the super rich, we are also open to discussing it at a national level". Bonelli sought semantic mediation: "Let's call it a solidarity contribution", like the similar proposal from the CGIL. However, the mention of a modification of the inheritance tax "above a certain amount, we can say 800 thousand/one million euros" aroused less enthusiasm. Magi proposed it, but no one took it up.
Just as the proposal - Magi and Avs like it - to legalize soft drugs, Bonelli's reference to the return of abuse of office and Fratoianni's reference to an escalator in version 2.0 remained in the air. To talk about all those things there is the table.
There is already agreement on a good portion of the proposals: "This is a maneuver that increases military spending by 14 billion but cuts public health and we will not allow it - said Schlein - We want to make Italy a country that you can afford: for housing, rent, with the minimum wage, with the elimination of waiting lists". And Conte: "The rearmament plans need to be reviewed and cancelled. And taxing extra profits is not a Soviet measure. We cannot deceive the government that we will not have proposals on security and that we will leave them the possibility of claiming a capacity that they have not demonstrated."
At the end, certificates of mutual trust and motivational boosts. "The center-left must demonstrate generosity, credibility and a sense of responsibility", said Boschi, who arrived representing IV also because there is a certain coldness towards President Matteo Renzi on the part of the M5s and Avs. "For the most part there is already a harmony refined since the beginning of the legislature with shared legislative projects and fully accepted directions of intervention - said Conte - Can we win? If we manage to be credible we are going to win or rather win by a landslide".
Schlein's recipe may not appeal too much to the centrists and even to some of her party, but the secretary has always claimed to have given a clear identity back to the party: "The right won in 2022 and went into government and is right-wing, but we must start acting left again and so we will rekindle that hope".
Fratoianni (Avs): 'We will compete with all our strength, even with Iv'
"We will compete with all our strength, even with Iv. In my opinion, the discussion rather than focusing on who sits at the table is better to focus on who gets up from the table with a common program to restart the country. The CGIL program can be a starting point. We will go to the streets together to announce the alternative program and say no to a wrong move". Nicola Fratoianni, co-spokesman of Avs, said this as he arrived at the Brancaccio theater for the programmatic assembly of the CGIL.
