“If the right doesn’t get its act together, the game is lost in Milan.” Says former mayor Albertini

Rome. The dilemma is no longer even a dilemma, but a risk of free-falling into the abyss if we don’t get a move on: the former mayor of Milan, Gabriele Albertini, a pillar of the centre-right in Milan, looks at the city where the centre-left is preparing for the post-Beppe Sala era with the imminent candidacy of Mario Calabresi, and metaphorically shakes his head. This won’t do. Or rather, this won’t get us anywhere, he says, all the more so “because in Milan the left is in a strong position – indeed, a very strong one – with a lead that polls put at between 10 and 14 points, not to mention that, in 2021, Sala won with 57.73 per cent against Luca Bernardo’s 31.97 per cent. ‘The only hope we might have had would have been the candidacy of a civic candidate of great stature.’ Carlo Cottarelli? ‘Cottarelli or Corrado Passera, but they’re not available, unfortunately.’ If he could, Albertini would almost be tempted to say “Cottarelli, think again”, given that, alongside Letizia Moratti, he had campaigned hard for a candidacy by the former spending review commissioner (and also by Passera) and had made himself available, alongside her, as a potential deputy mayor. But the path seems impassable. A politician, the leader of Noi Moderati, Maurizio Lupi, has long been in the running. He was in the running until the day before yesterday, but the Prime Minister has made it abundantly clear that a consensus must be reached not on him, but on a civic candidate. “With a civic candidate like Cottarelli or Passera, the centrists’ votes would also have gone to Milan.” Carlo Calenda, however, also the day before yesterday, posted a clear endorsement for Calabresi online. So it’s back to square one. Meanwhile, the right should be “aware”, Albertini says, in order to play its cards right, “that, in eighty years of the Republic’s history, the centre-right has governed Milan for just fifteen years, if one includes the time Marco Formentini spent at the helm of the City Council – who, moreover, at one point, after just one year, due to Umberto Bossi’s split, found himself governing with a left-wing council for three years – and then by myself and Letizia Moratti. We were, I’d say, almost miracle workers.” Albertini, originally an entrepreneur, had a technical-political background, and in 2001 he was also voted for by Francesco Saverio Borrelli. “That chemistry also carried over into Moratti’s term of office. Yet, in a city that is fundamentally progressive – a sort of mini New York – she was not re-elected, despite having secured the Expo. And today, alas, the prospect of fielding a competitive candidate seems to have vanished.” The name of Alessandro Spada, an entrepreneur and president of Assolombarda, is reportedly being considered as a civic candidate. “Highly respected, but he doesn’t seem keen.” The other civic candidate, Antonio Civita, founder of the Panino Giusto chain, strikes Albertini as “a most worthy person”, but lacking “the level of popularity needed to break through the wall of support”. But wouldn’t a political candidate have been better, then? “Look, a long time ago, when I still had my hair, I bet I’d shave my head completely during a chess tournament if I didn’t win. I came third and shaved my head. Well, now I’ve no hair left, but I’m tempted to say: if Lupi, in this scenario, managed to become mayor, I’d go straight away and get a hair transplant”. In short, even without Meloni being sidelined from the outset, for Albertini the road ‘to becoming a political figure would be an uphill struggle. But today, as far as independent candidates go, only Civita and Giovanni Terzi remain in the running – if one is to consider him as such. I repeat: Civita is a most worthy person, and in the only poll published he was just a few points behind Lupi. “I’d support whoever was chosen, but it would be a gruelling battle against Calabresi.” Would things be different if the Democratic Party’s regional councillor Pierfrancesco Majorino were to emerge victorious from any centre-left primaries? “In that case, I think the centrists would vote for a centre-right candidate. But against Calabresi, the game seems lost.” In short, this sounds a loud wake-up call for the centre-right, which cannot say ‘Cottarelli, have another think’ or ‘Passera, really give it some thought’. Could they say ‘Albertini, come back?’ Albertini smiles as he speaks on the other end of the line: ‘I, too, am a political figure, after all I’ve been through, and I’m 76 – too old to be mayor.’