What kind of party should the Brothers of Italy be or become if its leader, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (who closed the programmatic conference in Pescara by betting everything on her name) aspires to be recognized as a “statesman” on an international level? It is possible to link the need to proceed, in view of the European elections, with a sort of referendum on oneself (just write “Giorgia” on the ballot paper, is the concept) with that of extending FdI to the productive world, and above all to the so-called “skills” that would prevent embarrassments (New Year’s Eve shooting, Rai case and more) and political-stylistic lapses? In short, what is the path to consolidate the position? Follow the path of Basilicata – with FdI expanding in the center – or that of the closed fort that led the premier to victory in 2022, but which could turn out to be a boomerang? Those who observe with intellectual freedom from the outside and from the other field, like Antonio Padellaro, former director of L’Unità and co-founder of Fatto Daily, find that today FdI must make an effort “to metaphorically exit the old Colle Oppio section” .
What kind of party should the Brothers of Italy be or become if its leader, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (who closed the programmatic conference in Pescara by betting everything on her name) aspires to be recognized as a “statesman” on an international level? It is possible to link the need to proceed, in view of the European elections, with a sort of referendum on oneself (write only “Giorgia” on the ballot paper, is the concept) with that of extending FdI to the productive world, and above all to the so-called “skills” that would prevent embarrassments (New Year’s Eve shooting, Rai case and more) and political-stylistic lapses? In short, what is the path to consolidate the position? Follow the path of Basilicata – with FdI expanding in the center – or that of the closed fort that led the premier to victory in 2022, but which could turn out to be a boomerang? Those who observe with intellectual freedom from the outside and from the other field, like Antonio Padellaro, former director of L’Unità and co-founder of Fatto Daily, find that today FdI must make an effort “to metaphorically exit the old Colle Oppio section” .
A few days ago, interviewed on “Tagadà”, on La7, Padellaro joked about the Scurati affair: the prime minister sometimes seems to have “an office promoting left-wing intellectuals”, he said. “I would like to ask Scurati if he really believes that we have a Prime Minister in Palazzo Chigi who in some way could be tempted by a certain drift”, asked Padellaro: “I tell you clearly, I don’t believe it”, he concluded. Padellaro, however, believes that the “indefinitely closed” model, he tells Il Foglio, does not benefit a government party, and “I tell you this aware of the not always happy history of the countless meetings or ‘General States’ of the entrenched left” . “Indeed, if Meloni wants to give a different dimension and different standing to the party, in the direction of a European Conservative Party,” says Padellaro, “he should find a way, once the electoral phase is over, I’m not saying to rewrite the rules of coexistence in FdI, but to put some order. It would thus avoid many problems.”
The co-founder of Il Fatto observes the two-dimensionality of the situation: “There is a Meloni quite well known and appreciated abroad, the Meloni who will have to manage the G7 in Puglia, certainly not identified with Orbàn, and a Meloni who finds herself having to resolve issues that would be avoidable, here, explaining to old comrades that today’s ambition does not go well with some behaviors and some choices”. For example, giving Fratelli d’Italia t-shirts to the president of Leonardo (formerly Finmeccanica) Stefano Pontecorvo and to the director of the National Cybersecurity Agency Bruno Frattasi? The dem governor of Campania Vincenzo De Luca commented a little seriously and a little facetiously: “I was moved to see state managers on the stage in Pescara forced to display the Fratelli d’Italia t-shirt, they looked like political prisoners”.
Padellaro advises against it: “We should not fall into the temptation to recruit, occupy, arrange; don’t give the impression of those who, since they are in government, do as they please. Rather, it would be useful to choose not on the basis of loyalty but of competence.” Meloni’s speech in Pescara seemed to Padellaro “to be aimed more at the past than at the present, while I believe it would be useful for the prime minister to speak at home – in terms of themes and tones – as in international forums. The country has top-level managers and intellectuals, but if we don’t get out of the Colle Oppio syndrome we can’t capitalize on their experience.”
