“Primaries: every man for himself, and we’ll see about uniting later,” says Onorato

“First we’ll go to the primaries, each with our own specific agenda, and then we’ll see if the conditions and real political space exist for us to unite. Otherwise, we risk losing potential voters who no longer vote and who are calling for change.” Speaking is Alessandro Onorato, leader of Progetto Civico Italia and a Rome city councillor. His vision of the centre of the centre-left – which Onorato does not consider the ‘centre’ but rather a force (or coalition of forces) that is “clearly reformist, capable of achieving what we have so far been told is impossible” – is a vision in flux. In other words, it does not begin with a convergence of all the components of the centre of the centre-left, as called for by the leader of Più Uno, Ernesto Maria Ruffini. Onorato says that he “speaks often” with Ruffini and that he “has already taken a step” by joining forces with Enzo Maraio’s Avanti Psi, but that “we must start from the added value that each of us can bring to the centre-left, translated into concrete proposals. Only then can we consider whether and how to present ourselves as a united front”.

In Onorato’s case, the proposals are those put forward during the PcI’s General Assembly: from the housing crisis to security, from immigration to the Daspo ban for stalkers: “Ten proposals, with their respective funding sources already specified”. If others were to support them, could we not come together as a single entity? “I repeat: let us stand, even if divided, in the primaries, but only to bring the full strength of our respective electorates – a great celebration of the people – involving so many disillusioned people. Over the course of this year, as we’ve travelled around Italy, many have taken an interest in us because they’ve seen a multitude of local councillors and citizens who want to help the centre-left, but who do not identify with the current parties and wish to distinguish themselves through a culture of getting things done”.

What should be done? “Let’s say, for example, that we can combine solidarity with compliance with the rules – take security and immigration, for instance. On the housing crisis, we propose a swift solution: if we invest 50 per cent of the tourist tax – as we did in Rome – to purchase social housing from the private market, we can help over 30,000 families in five years, while avoiding the creation of ghettos or the construction of new homes, as Meloni wishes to do in a country with a low birth rate.” Among Onorato’s proposals is one on rent control: “We will set up ‘Abitare’, an agency under the remit of CdP, which will acquire 200,000 homes from the private market to let at controlled rents, capped at a maximum of 25 per cent of a person’s salary.”

And then there is the proposal that would impose a Daspo within a maximum of 48 hours on stalkers. The idea is: if you receive a threat, you cannot wait ages, risking your life in the meantime. We’d bet that others from the reformist wing of the centre-left would agree. Why only unite afterwards? “A union cannot be formed simply for the sake of simplification,” says Onorato. The polls, however, paint a negative picture of this fragmentation. “The polls seem to me to underestimate the scale of the new forces at play within the centre-left when they extrapolate regional data to the national level. It is not necessarily the case that remaining separate will harm the centre-left. Quite the contrary. Let everyone continue to plough their own field; then we’ll see.”

There are those who regret the ‘Third Pole’ model. “It seems to me they came unstuck with that formula.” On the right, however, civic groups are now rallying around ScN leader Cateno De Luca. “Few civic groups, to be honest: it’s a non-spontaneous move decided at the top by Giorgia Meloni. If we’re to unite, we must do so on the basis of two concepts: what we want to do for the country and how to preserve the spirit of renewal.” Isn’t Matteo Renzi new enough? “We’re different; we come from the grassroots; we’re civic-minded. Renzi is a different story and, in any case, today he does not cover the full breadth of the spectrum of liberal, socialist and populist forces that are crucial for victory against Meloni.” So, primaries for many, then, and possibly, says Onorato, “in a single round and online: we use SPID for everything, so surely we can use it for the primaries too?”