The well-known motto “make or break” has come back into fashion recently, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recovering it to explain the meaning of the future referendum on the premiership. And in some ways the motto might also seem appropriate for Azione and for Carlo Calenda, who chose not to join the Renzi-Bonino pact to challenge the 4% threshold with their own strength. Even if the shareholder leader, as well as former minister, doesn’t see it exactly that way… «No, no, no “make or break”, it just goes…», she says with conviction.
Aren’t you afraid, Calenda, that June 8-9 could become a crossroads for your political adventure?
The European elections are the coherent stage of a path that has never changed and will not change: giving the country a liberal, popular and reformist party that allows citizens to escape from the “black or white” logic.
Is this project still current?
It is more so than before. The country is splitting. The other leaders are having an adolescent election campaign while healthcare is falling apart and salaries are not adequate for a minimum quality of life. And in this scenario the Prime Minister continues to govern half the country.
Do you think that the forces of the right and the left will bring these polarizations to Europe too?
That’s how it is. And it must be said very clearly that Europe, with the political forces that say “we need less EU”, will crumble.
But the prospect of a majority moving to the right exists, right?
No, there isn’t a right-wing majority. And the deputies of the League will not touch the ball as they did not touch it in the last legislature. Italy is 25th out of 27 for influence in the European Parliament. And this happens because these forces that want the EU to be weak send us some unlikely people there.
Will they send them to us this time too?
Well, there’s Vannacci…
In short, you don’t believe that the Italian right-wing parties will be able to squeeze into a European majority…
The majority will be the same as there is today.
Won’t Fdi try to count?
But I hope that they will try to join a pro-European majority. At the moment, however, we see a prime minister who prefers to do that of Colle Oppio.
Isn’t that too harsh?
Gentlemen, I start from the facts. Meloni does not speak to Macron, Scholz and Sanchez because they are not friends of him. This is the state of the art. She is unfit to govern. Unsuitable.
Same majority then, with the same President of the Commission?
Von der Leyen has drifted too much lately. It happens, when you want to court the sovereignists…
So Draghi is better?
He is the most authoritative European in the world. I’m really surprised that Schlein opposes this hypothesis.
Do you see action with the Liberals as central to this scenario?
In the meantime, we present lists full of competence, we don’t bring unprepared people to Brussels. And if the other leaders hadn’t run I wouldn’t have done it either, but I couldn’t leave the technicians alone to fight this battle. You think I’m not asking preferences for myself. As for the Liberals, they will still be the indispensable glue between the Popular Party and the Socialists.
But you are critical of some of the results of the previous legislature, including the Green Deal.
That pact is fake, it is unattainable. It would mean producing 1 million and 200 thousand electric cars in Italy. Either a miracle happens or it will be Chinese cars. The transition must be renegotiated.
What do you say about the possible use of European weapons for attacks on Russian targets?
I say that I am annoyed by Macron’s exit in terms of substance and method. We don’t want escalation, I’m radically against sending troops to Ukraine. Then it is one thing to bomb the point from which they send the missiles, another to strike Russia indiscriminately.
Is the European army useful?
Of course, regardless of whether Trump returns or not. Today we waste 28 billion euros by not integrating our defensive systems.
Is there any theme missing from this campaign?
The health ESM, the only hope for saving Italian healthcare, has been forgotten. And we’re not talking about industrial policy. If China attacks Taiwan tomorrow we will no longer have semiconductors. If we get into a trade war with Beijing we don’t have the active ingredients of the drugs. These are the priorities, other than the insults between Meloni and De Luca…
Do you regret not having reached an agreement with Renzi and Bonino?
But imagine how much I regret not being on the list that goes from Mastella to Cecchi Paone. I repeat: the plan has not changed, to give a center to Italy. But I can’t do it with someone who votes for La Russa to put Boschi under surveillance. I understood it and I’m never going back.
