Candidate for the European elections and perhaps also on the lists of aspiring city councilors of Florence. The idea of being a general Roberto Vannacci “a symbol” also in the Tuscan capital, in the League, has been circulating for weeks. But the suggestion does not garner the enthusiasm of the centre-right, especially after the military’s declarations on Mussolini and separate classes for disabled people. “We don’t know anything, no one told us”, explain the staff of mayoral candidate Eike Schmidt, supported by the entire center-right.
«I don’t think it’s true. Whatever happens, we don’t go to other people’s homes to tell them what they should do and who they should nominate – explains the city secretary of Fdi Jacopo Cellai -, of course I can add that the creation of our list followed other criteria”. The allies therefore keep a safe distance from this hypothesis, born as a provocation and under negotiation for its real realization: the vote takes place on 8 and 9 June – both for the European elections and for the first round of the municipal elections – and the law actually allows candidacy for two races parallel even if on different tracks.
Federico Bussolin, group leader of the Carroccio in Palazzo Vecchio, wants to turn the suggestion into an opportunity. He has always worked on it, convinced that this could be a method «that enhances the presence in the city of the general at the helm of the military geographical institute and that gives the League an important opportunity in the city». THEDeputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is informed of the negotiations, even if he has not expressed himself publicly on this possible candidacy in the city. “I haven’t received any official proposals regarding Florence,” Vannacci explained just 3 weeks ago, when reporters pressed him on the topic. But many things have already changed since that moment, the most important is that the general has accepted to be the league leader at the European Championships. Now Bussolin has officially put forward the proposal to the general for the city council “through a mutual friend”. The military’s response is expected in the next few days.
Obviously, if Vannacci accepted, it would be an electoral marketing operation. In fact, he would have to renounce the election, so the focus is on the “towing” operation with respect to the consensus that the general would eventually gather, consequently growing the League’s list in the city. Which needs oxygen: after the overtaking of Fdi in Florence, the Northern League is threatened both by the result of Forza Italia and by that of Eike Schmidt’s civic list, which certainly aims to become the second force of the centre-right.
So in the Florentine Carroccio we hope for a “Vannacci effect”, even if – it should be specified – there are no official signals in this sense. At least for now. The nervousness towards the military’s positions, among other things, have exceeded the alert levels in all the parties of the right-wing coalition, including the League.
After the severe words of the mayor of Pistoia Alessandro Tomasi (Fdi) and the distancing of the mayor of Pisa Michele Conti (Lega), in the last hours, also the outgoing MEP Susanna Ceccardi – on the list with the soldier in the race for Brussels – he raised his voice. Lastly, Vannacci’s run in the capital would certainly be a blow to Schmidt himself’s aspirations of moderate narrationvery well represented by the former PD Paolo Bambagioni: «I dissociate myself from him – the candidate from the civic list of the former director of the Uffizi wrote in a note yesterday – we work for an inclusive Florence».
