I’ll explain the reasons of the anti Conte
What happens in the government majority and why not only in the opposition but also in the parties that support the Conte executive there are criticisms and questions about the political (if not party) aims of the Prime Minister. Gianfranco Polillo's analysis
Let's recap from the beginning. There is a government born badly and raised worse. Son of an unprecedented constitutional anomaly. It should not be forgotten that our fundamental charter states "that the prime minister directs the general policy of the government and is responsible for it". Can the same person "direct", in a sort of institutional squint, majorities of opposite sign, only a moment before opposed?
Those foundational limits, so to speak, have increased with the passage of time, despite the tragedy of the pandemic. Which helped to ensure a somewhat desperate cohesion. Could it be changed, opening a sort of Pandora's box, while deaths stained most of the cities of Italy black? Cleverly, the prime minister used this complicated situation to his advantage. By progressively centralizing every possible power on himself. To the point of feeding rejection phenomena on the part of its own allies. This has been seen in the constant confrontation with Matteo Renzi, but also in the growing intolerance on the part of the Democratic Party.
The latter had been required to exercise patience that touched more and more self-harm. In the long annals of the Republic, the communicative excesses, almost a narcissistic syndrome, of the Prime Minister were rarely seen. His wanting to get in direct contact with public opinion through the media system. Most of the time used in a proprietary way, at least judging by the delays that have characterized his TV outings. With a large audience waiting to know how he couldn't spend the Christmas holidays.
All-Italian anomaly. In Europe, communication is much more discreet. In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte used the television tool, an exceptional fact, only when he had to announce the Christmas lockdown. Angela Merkel that passionate speech, in which all her emotion shone through, did it in front of the Bundestag. Listening to it there were the parliamentarians and certainly not the cameramen of the television studios. For Conte, on the other hand, every opportunity was a good one to show up on TV, taking advantage of a direction specifically designed to enhance the mortgages virtues of an increasingly tired and predictable government.
Cheap pedagogy in an often ecumenical inspiration, scarcely credible. Repetitive prolapse. Therefore, at the end of interminable speeches it was often difficult to understand their overall meaning or possible novelties. Often a long list of promises written on the water. As will be seen in the rest of the final balance. But with a basic logic: to become more and more accredited as a political leader, overcoming in one leap the harshness of the political ranks. Those hardships that have always marked the lives of those who applied for public roles.
A new form of politics, to paraphrase the lexicon of Goffredo Bettini, egghead of the Democratic Party? If so, it would be an anomaly in the same exceptions that have characterized the life of the country. There have always been technicians lent to politics. Apart from the fact that "the people's advocate" does not lend itself to this classification, the others had a recognized pedigree. University professors esteemed for their works. Grand commis d'Etat. Successful manager and so on. In short: well-known characters in their previous life. And not – here is the anomaly – "perfect strangers", ready to run the great adventure, stressing as much as possible the prerogatives of the institutional office, rained on him.
Then the reactions are inevitable. As long as Conte was called to mediate between Salvini and Di Maio, he could also stay there. Of course: it was a distortion of Article 95 of the Constitution. But in the Italian experience there had been many cases of re travicello. But since the President had set up or gave the impression that he wanted to go on his own, things had changed. Especially within his reference party. Who was he, in fact, compared to the old activists who had formed themselves in the long discussions of the meetups? He had obtained the endorsement from Beppe Grillo. But, in turn, the Elevated, by his own free choice, was no longer that of the old days.
Leaders, such as Luigi Di Maio or Vito Crimi himself, had matured growing perplexities. The third wheel, albeit not immediately, risked giving, at least a part of the movement, a particular direction. The suspicion was that, sooner or later, a "Conte party" would be born, able to have the support of a part of the galaxy of the movement. You grumble more than certainties, but such as to affect that chess game being played between Dibba, Crimi and Di Maio themselves, as well as Roberto Fico. At the moment hibernating as Speaker of the Chamber, but still determined not to give up the great game of politics.
When did these movements, up to a moment before underground, emerge in the light of the sun? When the Count himself tried the big shot. Thinking of managing the 209 billion of the Recovery Fund, with a triumvirate, constituted by himself, the Minister of Economy Roberto Gualtieri, increasingly independent from the same Pd, and Stefano Patuanelli, Minister of Economic Development. Considered the most Christian Democrat, together with the Count himself, among the 5 stars. An attempt considered by many to be the icing on the cake of a much more ambitious political project.
A stop had to be imposed. And it happened thanks to the reaction of Matteo Renzi, who has long been in contention, with his penultimatums, against the presidency of the Council. This time, however, the head of Italy vVva didn't just work for himself. But he acted on delegation from those who, understood or simply suspected Conte's game, wanted to send a clear and strong message. Months ago, the keys to the country were not handed over to Matteo Salvini. Perhaps, and all the more reason, they will not give them to an outsider: who became Prime Minister by chance.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/vi-spiego-le-ragioni-degli-anti-conte/ on Sun, 20 Dec 2020 07:08:16 +0000.