Because Meloni does not want Ronzulli in the government

14 October 20222 years ago babelfish

The tensions between Forza Italia and Giorgia Meloni on the Berlusconian Licia Ronzulli. Gianfranco Polillo's analysis

"Cherchez la femme" wrote the crime writers of the nineteenth century to reveal the dark plots of the crime. Today that question has resounded in the austere classrooms of the Senate to explain the first majority failure that emerged from the last elections. Fortunately, Ignazio La Russa – by the way, congratulations President – did it anyway. But those 116 votes received still represent the envelope of a drama. And this is why it is necessary to “chercher la femme”.

In the beginning it was Mariarosaria Rossi, the perhaps forgotten heroine of Forza Italia today. An extraordinary career: from simple district councilor, in 2006, to parliamentarian of the Republic in the subsequent (XVI) legislature and senator in the further two: XVII and XVIII. But what matters most from a simple backbencher (a much more elegant term than the more prosaic peon) to a real gray eminence of Silvio Berlusconi's party, when the fortunes of that party were skyrocketing.

He had never been in management positions. But in the form of that organization it mattered little. The important thing was to sit to the right of the leader. Which left to do, only to really make the only decisions that mattered. The method adopted to avoid possible contamination is extraordinary. To speak with Silvio you had to get his approval. Granted only after careful evaluation of the why and wherefore. The jump took place in 2014, when he assumed the position of Chief of Staff of the Presidency of the reborn Forza Italia. After the meteor represented by the PDL.

And finally the great ascent. On May 20 he replaces the mild-mannered Sandro Bondi, as extraordinary commissioner of the party. It has the task of cutting expenses and reducing debt, which falls significantly. In that period he is inseparable from Silvio. It assists him in all his public and private events. To the point of unleashing evil tongues: she is the "caregiver", "the tsarina", the protagonist, along with others, of the bunga bunga. For the latter case she is investigated and sent for trial.

In 2016, however, the end of a dream. Removed from the limelight, they offer her a consolation prize. He will be the treasurer of the Forza Italia parliamentary group in the Senate. She will still be re-elected to the Senate in 2018, but by now the relationship with Silvio and the elders of the Party has worn out. In fact, he will vote in favor of Giuseppe Conte, in his second dance round with the PD. Obviously not tolerated choice, which will lead her directly to the expulsion and to a remaining life of exile in the bushes of the center. From which she will still be a candidate, but without success, in the last elections.

For a "pasionaria" who dies there is another who takes over. This time it was Licia Ronzulli's turn. She was born as a nurse, but politics caught her almost immediately. The meeting with Silvio Berlusconi took place in 2004, during the celebrations for the ten years of Forza Italia. Then Licia is less than 30 years old. She is engaged to Renato Cerioli , a manager destined to have a decent career. Both become intimate with the leader of Forza Italia. To the point that the latter will witness their marriage in 2008. Which unfortunately will only last two years.

The same year, again in 2008, the plunge into politics. Candidate in the political elections in a boarding school in the Marche region, she will not do it. He will try, however, the following year at the European Championships. And this time consistency will be rewarded. Elected MEP, between Brussels and Strasbourg she will be able to appreciate the talents of Matteo Salvini. The result will be a partnership destined, on the one hand to favor his rise, and on the other to feed suspicion, in the circle of the party's centrists. Too much addiction: this is the accusation.

Which will not prevent him, however, from his slow but irresistible rise to the top. In 2016, replacing Mariarosaria Rossi in full and through. But while the latter was satisfied with being Silvio Berlusconi's person of absolute trust, Ronzulli will expect more. He wants to have political office. And so, in May 2022, he requested and obtained the head of Massimiliano Salini, as party coordinator in Lombardy, to take on that role in the first person. It will be the break with Mariastella Gelmini, of whom Salini was a faithful, which will lead, along with other reasons, to the exit from the party of the other two ministers in office (Carfagna and Brunetta).

Obviously, even in this case, the gossips and the flood of accusations could not be missing. Here is what the Republic wrote on September 16, 2011: "The" hunters "of young, beautiful, thin and not very tall girls were not only Gianpi Tarantini or Gianpi Traversi … But also two unsuspected deputies of the PDL, Elvira Savino and Licia Ronzulli, the before sitting in the Italian Parliament the other in the European one. They are not investigated, but a dozen conversations intercepted by the Guardia di Finanza and filed in the records of the Bari investigation, leave no doubt about the role of the two beautiful policies in the recruitment, or in any case in the organization, of the girls in the parties organized by the Cavaliere ".

But why so much fury on the part of Giorgia Meloni in not wanting to assign Licia a post of minister? A place, moreover, of the first band, as asked by Silvio Berlusconi, to the point of not voting for La Russa, leaving it scorned. A first answer is in the things just said. A second aspect, on the other hand, entirely political, would be to be found in Silvio Berlusconi's intention (presumed or real) to make her heir, when he decides to leave politics definitively, of Forza Italia.

In this eventuality he should fill the role of Antonio Tajani. So much so, that a first attempt, again by Berlusconi, was to indicate her as the head of the Forza Italia delegation. This hypothesis was also rejected for the same reason. Meloni has an excellent relationship with Tajani, whose parliamentary standing is beyond question. So why should it accept something destined to transform that long-heralded “high-profile government” into one of the many experiments not published in the long annals of homeland history?

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/licia-ronzulli-governo-meloni/ on Fri, 14 Oct 2022 05:15:01 +0000.