The appeal to vote and commitment «because this – says Pier Luigi Bersani, the most applauded on stage – is one of the most important electoral steps of the last twenty years. This is no time to comb dolls.” The promise of a result at the polls that “until a few years ago we didn’t even hope for”, assures the governor-leader Stefano Bonaccini, because “we have never been as united as we are now”.
The threat from the stage
But what marks the last appointment in Bologna with the PD candidates for the European elections, on the lawn of the Festa dell’Unità Due Madonne, on the eastern outskirts of Bologna, are the headlong attacks on the centre-right. Especially aimed at deputy minister Galeazzo Bignami that has threatened with the withdrawal of the 6 thousand euro lump sum reimbursement for movable property damaged by the flood “if there are people, directed or externally directed by the Democratic Party, who want to continue to make all this a weapon of political struggle.” «What he said is incredible, there is just a different idea of what a party and an institution are. It was you – shouts Bonaccini from the stage in response to the Melonian – who promised 100% refunds. If you don’t keep your promises we will say that you were liars.”
The closing of the electoral campaign
Thus, among a few hundred militants and volunteers hot from the sun and angry with the Meloni government, the Democratic electoral campaign for the European elections ends. The centrist Pier Ferdinando Casini also arrived at the party, an independent senator of the Democratic Party without a membership card, a former DC now at home among the former PCI. «Bonaccini is the candidate that I will vote for and that a moderate certainly has no difficulty in voting for», is his endorsement for the outgoing governor for whom he dreamed of a hat trick: «Also because finding another creates some complications…». Mayor Matteo Lepore erases in one fell swoop years of cold relationships and different paths (in the primaries he chose Schlein): «Of course I’m voting for our leader, together with others, he was a great regional president and we have to thank him».
Bignami’s threat
Unity is claimed and exhibited, even by the team of candidates for the European Parliament. About ten of those arrived at the Festival, who showed up quickly within the tight deadlines dictated by the Bolognese secretary, Federica Mazzoni, who opened by asking for two rounds of applause: one for “comrade Bersani” and one for Sofia Stefani, the former traffic policeman “killed by a man”. But between promises and commitments, while on the stage Spi-Cgil collects signatures for the referendum against the Jobs Act, these are the words pronounced on Tuesday during Castel Bolognese by deputy minister Galeazzo Bignami to hold court among the Dems: «6,000 euros are ready for any citizen who wants to ask for them, the law must be passed, but if there are people directed or externally directed by the Democratic Party who want to continue to make all this a weapon of struggle We tell them about politics frankly, we are even ready not to give them to them.”
«Exploitations»
The mayor of Ravenna Michele De Pascale, who relaunched the video, speaks of a «threat to flooded families, but we Romagna people are not used to allowing ourselves to be blackmailed». “A shameful thing, this right has a political use of the institutions”, attacks the secretary Elly Schlein who arrives in Modena in the evening for the closing of the electoral campaign. Attacks that return from the stage of the small Savena Festival. «They wield power like a club», says Annalisa Corrado. «The institutions are served with discipline and honor», says the regional secretary Tosiani. Bonaccini launches his final thrust: «After a year you haven’t found 20 seconds to write a decree that says that movable property is refundable. We cannot accept that they make fun of us because we represent a different political color.”
Ready to collect refreshments
The Bolognese deputy minister, in a note, talks about exploitation: «The Democratic Party has serious responsibilities for the poor care of the territory and much of the damage is a consequence of its poor management». And he keeps the point: «Never for any calamitous event has money been given for movable property. Instead of recognizing the government’s effort, they accuse it of fooling people by giving a lump sum of 6,000 euros. Since we don’t want to make fun of anyone, if they really think like this we will draw the conclusions: we are ready to withdraw the law and discuss it again. But it is good that at that point the flood victims know who is responsible and for what. The only real threat is that the Democratic Party continues to govern here.”
