Politics
The case •
Tabacci refuses to grant Onorato the party symbol to form a group in the Chamber of Deputies. PcI forced to collect signatures
To get round the ‘anti-faction’ rule, Rome’s Councillor for Sport is seeking representation in Parliament. He has asked the broad coalition for three MPs, but that is not enough: a party symbol must be submitted by 2022. And the leader of Centro Democratico, who previously supported Bonino and Di Maio, is backing out this time
Alessandro Onorato – photo: LaPresse
Signatures, symbols, elections. The new electoral law is in the final stages and the final vote in the Chamber of Deputies is expected in the coming weeks. The parties are already campaigning, whilst smaller political groups are grappling with the new ‘anti-splinter group’ rule introduced by the majority. One such group is Alessandro Onorato’s Progetto Civico, which, as a group outside Parliament, is obliged to collect up to 6,000 signatures for each constituency – totalling around 450,000 signatures – from the dissolution of Parliament. This task might be simpler under one condition: that parliamentary representation is established.
It is for this reason that last week Onorato asked his political base – the ‘broad coalition’ – to ‘lend’ him three MPs to form a group within the Chamber’s Mixed Group. But that is not enough: at least three MPs are required, but they must represent a political party or movement that already existed at the time of the last general election, one that is recognisable on the basis of certain and unequivocal criteria and which submitted its own lists or candidates. This is where Bruno Tabacci enters the picture in Onorato’s manoeuvre.
The president of Centro Democratico has already put his party’s symbol at the service of political manoeuvres originating elsewhere. In 2018, it was he who resolved the issue of Emma Bonino’s signatures: Centro Democratico was already represented in Parliament, and the agreement with +Europa allowed the Radical Party list to stand in the elections without having to tackle that mountain of signatures. The name ‘Centro Democratico’ thus appeared alongside that of ‘+Europa’ on the logo. Then, in 2022, Tabacci joined forces with Luigi Di Maio, who had just left the Five Star Movement, to form ‘Impegno Civico’. In that instance too, the logo united the new project with Centro Democratico.
This is why Tabacci’s name is now being bandied about in connection with Onorato’s bid. A political figure with a parliamentary and electoral track record could become the vehicle through which a new political formation attempts to overcome the problem of signatures. He, who just a few months ago had left the PD parliamentary group, saying: “The right fights by broadening its base, not narrowing it.” Despite attempts at moral suasion, Tabacci does not, for the time being, seem willing to hand over his party symbol. “Hand over the symbol? Hand over what? What do they want to do? Do they want to join forces with Conte?”, he tells Il Foglio before adding a word of warning: “Let them set out their programmes and their plans clearly, and then we’ll see. In any case, everyone will then have to collect the signatures they need to collect.”
Tabacci wants to understand who Onorato is, what the political agenda of Progetto Civico is and, above all, where he intends to position himself, whilst viewing Ernesto Maria Ruffini favourably. The former director of the Revenue Agency seems destined, together with his Più Uno party, to build the ‘Reformist House’ alongside Matteo Renzi – a project which, at Onorato’s own behest, currently appears to be at odds with Progetto Civico. “Ruffini’s proposal is a serious one. He has written a thousand-page book on the constitution; he is a servant of the state. The civic groups, on the other hand, are all well and good, but what are they actually here for?”, Tabacci told Il Foglio some time ago.
Thus, for Onorato, the search is becoming more complicated. The three MPs are the first piece of the jigsaw. There are still too many variables, according to sources close to the Roman councillor. At the moment, he is in touch with Conte, Schlein and Bonelli ‘on a daily basis’. The political figure through whom to build the coalition is the second piece of the puzzle. And on this front, there is still a long way to go. And without both, the parliamentary shortcut risks leading nowhere.