Qatargate, Maroccogate and the comedy of post-communists in Europe
Like Tangentopoli, also the Qatergate, with its Moroccan offshoots, is branded socialist. Damato's Scratches
The Tangentopoli of thirty years ago, which cost the lives of the first Italian Republic and a good number of its protagonists, actors and extras, and the Qatargate of these days, which is even rocking Europe, or at least its Parliament, have in common a certain political registry, more convenient than real.
Mario Chiesa was a socialist, the president of the Pio Albergo Trivulzio caught in the act of committing a crime on 17 February 1992 while collecting a miserable seven million lire as part of a bribe imposed on whoever ran the cleaning service. And a socialist continued – partly out of media laziness but even more out of malice, in particular, of the left of communist origin – to be considered the color or political matrix of corruption seen, rightly or wrongly, in every passage of uncovered money for the benefit of the parties and their derivatives, current or just personal.
In truth, all the parties were interested in the phenomenon of bribes with the sole exception of the Social Movement and Proletarian Democracy just confirmed by a substitute public prosecutor in Milan at the time: Gherardo Colombo, who therefore declared himself not at all surprised by the Qatargate of this end of the year. But, as practiced by almost the entire Italian political arc, and in dimensions proportional to the consistency of the various parties, the protagonist or dominus of the bribes continued to be considered the PSI: in particular, the PSI of the annoying Bettino Craxi. The others seemed to have entered and remained in the underworld only as allies of the socialists, perhaps only on a local level, as when they happened to be under investigation by the communists. Indeed, it seemed that the latter had been led into temptation – as the prayer of the Pater noster was still reciting at the time – by the devil impersonated by the Psi of the carnation.
For example, the "improvist" communists of Milan fell into that temptation according to the representation made in Rome by the PCI, which in the meantime became PDS and led by Achille Occhetto. In reality, even the national headquarters of the Communist Party found itself involved in the investigation, with a room unnecessarily sealed off at the Botteghe Oscure: to no avail because no one ever knew or wanted to find out who the good soul of Raul Gardini had visited one fine day with a swollen bag of money.
Even the present-day Quartergate, with its Moroccan offshoots, is unfortunately branded socialist, at least so far, due to the denomination of the European group of MPs or ex-MPs under accusation, starting of course with the Italian Pier Antonio Panzeri. In whose homes or similar sacks of euro banknotes were found and seized, counting which the investigators took days, many were, although contained in a total sum so far estimated at just over one and a half million, equal to three billion of the old Italian lire.
Of an Italian MEP still in office, Andrea Cozzolino, the Pd still led by Enrico Letta hastened to decide and announce the suspension, pending the outcome of the investigations, although they have not even started against the interested party, as there have been so far only the assistant is affected. And to think that the Democratic Party born in 2007 with the merger of the remains of the PCI and the Christian Democrat left, plus a few green and liberal bushes, hesitated for a long time to recognize itself and actively participate in the European Socialist Party, and in the homologous group of the European Parliament, a partly due to an ancient diffidence, to say the least, of communists towards socialists, for a long time considered and treated as opportunists, traitors and the like, and partly out of respect for the component coming from the DC. In which many had initially accepted not to die Christian Democrats but didn't even really want to become, let alone die, socialists.
Yet it was precisely from that component that the unblocking of the transformation of identity came in 2014 with a decision by Matteo Renzi, still fresh from being elected secretary of the Democratic Party. Joining the European Socialist Party, which Walter Veltroni and Pier Luigi Bersani, of communist origins, had not had the courage to promote, was therefore decided and made concrete by the post-Christian Democrat Renzi. Who, in the meantime, too, having left the Democratic Party slamming the door, like two of his predecessors, may be rubbing his hands about the troubles the leaders of the Nazarene are in today because of him for the socialist position of their party in the European Parliament .
On the other hand, let's be honest, how long could the comedy of the Italian post-communists committed to calling themselves socialists only abroad last? A comedy written and acted to treat the Italian Tangentopoli of 30 years ago to their advantage. Some things are paid for, sooner or later: too late perhaps for those who have even died there, and cannot make their sarcastic laughter heard from the afterlife, but in time for those who have managed to survive. And today he could breathe a sigh of relief and, together, of resentment thinking of a revenge of history.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/qatargate-tangentopoli-socialisti/ on Sun, 25 Dec 2022 06:22:59 +0000.