Conte, Zingaretti and the Pd undecided about everything
The internal balances of the party force the secretary of the Democratic Party, Nicola Zingaretti, to involved speeches and winks of various kinds that accentuate the bewilderment and lead to nothing. Polillo's comment
The presumed sacredness of the leadership of the Democratic Party should not be misleading. It is no longer the time for old liturgies. The mandate obtained unanimously by Nicola Zingaretti has only a tactical significance. It will allow him to propose Giuseppe Conte as the maximum leader of the new / old majority. But the sound of his own voice is not reassuring. Everyone knows that that is nothing more than a forced move, waiting to be able to drop the real cards. But, to reach that appointment, it is necessary to allow the necessary time to pass, to allow the various protagonists to metabolize what, even today, might appear evident.
However, there remains the impression of a lack of autonomy that has lasted too long. That depend, on the part of the Democratic Party, on the lips of the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, renouncing to play any role. Which was obviously not breaking. But balancing. Considering, among other things, the poor political capacity (can we say?) Of the latter and the relative inconsistency of its political base of reference. Instead of playing that role of mediation, which was also necessary, avoiding isolating Italia Viva, Zingaretti preferred to drop a load of eleven. By inevitably tipping the scales on the side of the crisis.
The problem, as he himself insisted during the management, was obviously not of a personal nature. No late regrets, at least in words, for the split desired and operated by Matteo Renzi, the day after the birth of Count two. But, then, was there a need to lend themselves to act as a crutch at the birth of the group of the “ Maie Europeanists – Democratic Center” – a grouping as bombastic in name as it is scarce in political consistency to the point of hijacking a senator? That Tatjana Rojc, whose first statements were “I sacrifice myself for the good of the country, my party asked me”. Not even it was a question of sacrificing oneself for the supreme end.
And then the overall picture is tinged with gray. In the long history and in the labor of the Democratic Party, pride in a position of autonomy had been a constant, at times lived even dangerously. In that DNA was the imprint of the relations between Togliatti and Stalinism. Or the episode of Giancarlo Pajetta who, during the invasion of Czechoslovakia, in Moscow, refuses to sign any joint declaration. To end with Enrico Berlinguer and the NATO umbrella, the courage of Achille Occhetto alla Bolognina and so on. All burned on the altar of an opportunism that leaves you amazed.
The thing is even more serious if these episodes are put in relation to the next institutional deadlines. The games that will characterize the choice of the next President of the Republic weigh in right now. It is known that the race has already begun even within the Democratic Party. It is also known that the votes of the pentastellati parliamentarians are a gift that cannot be overlooked. And here then is that the personal strategy of this or that manager – it is useless to mention names – violently impacts the internal balance of the Party. He forces his secretary into convoluted speeches. To winks of various kinds, which accentuate the bewilderment and lead to nothing.
We then continue to comb the dolls, as Pierluigi Bersani would say. But it's a big gamble. From the most recent forecasts of the International Monetary Fund it is red alert. Among the 30 countries considered, in practice the world elite, Italy ranks twenty-eighth. Worse than us, with minimal differences, only Argentina and South Africa. In fact, in 2022, the cumulative development rate will be 3.1 percent lower than in 2019. Which, in turn, was still 4 percent below 2007 levels: before the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. An unstoppable decline.
And if you look at public finance, the concerns are dizzying. During his last speech in the Chamber and the Senate, the Prime Minister spoke of an expenditure of about 100 billion in favor of the Italian company. Pitiful omission. That figure referred only to commitments for the current year. While if we consider the entire three-year period of financial planning, the total, according to the reports of the Bank of Italy, reaches the fantastic figure of 175 billion and a few coins. If we also include the latest budget law, we reach almost 208 billion. An amount that corresponds to the loans of the Recovery Fund, dissipated in a single year or a little more, when those resources, if all goes well, will arrive in an interval of 5, to then have to be repaid, except for the lost fund, in another 30.
We may therefore be surprised if the public debt in just one year (November to November) has increased by over 140 billion euros, reaching, if not exceeding (we will see with the December data) 157 per cent of GDP: 23 points more than the previous year? Still sustainable with an adequate growth rate of the economy, but completely out of line if the IMF's predictions prove true. And then the ECB parachute will certainly not be enough, destined sooner or later to be demobilized. We will therefore see, once again, an already tested script, as was the one in 2011, with spreads inevitably destined to rise and a financial crisis ready to explode. Is Nicola Zingaretti aware of this or, now a prisoner of the small coasters, does he close his eyes so as not to see?
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/conte-zingaretti-e-il-pd-indeciso-a-tutto/ on Thu, 28 Jan 2021 09:07:02 +0000.