Calenda takes a dig at Gualtieri’s extremely broad coalition. “No alliances,” he tells us

Rome. Roberto Gualtieri’s scope for miracles seemed to be vast indeed. The mayor of the ‘Pax Romana’ who already appeared to be holding together the Five Star Movement and Renzi’s supporters, environmentalists and Azione. But hold on. “Mayor Gualtieri’s is merely an invitation,” Carlo Calenda tells us. Merely? “Yes. Just an invitation and nothing more.” (The idyll that had fuelled expectations on the Democratic Party’s social media profiles has already come to an end: ‘Gualtieri the influencer’, as the hype would put it). So no ‘broad coalition’, then. “No. Azione is in opposition to the PD at the Campidoglio.” It is now. In the future? “We’ll have to read the manifesto for the next elections. But for now, we’ve simply received a proposal.” Clear enough. But you, Senator, have you read the national PD manifesto in the meantime? 

In recent days, we have published Schlein’s 105-point programme in this newspaper. Calenda, have you read them? And if so, what do you think? “I think we’ll fail first.” Really? “Definitely.” The general forecast, even if only half of half were to be realised, is for state intervention in every sector. With the consequent need to trample on the European pact. “But I’m telling you we’ll fail first.” Perhaps. But surely you are aware that Gualtieri would share the same doomed worldview. “But an invitation from you is quite different from a Capitoline alliance; you understand that perfectly well.” Of course.

However, it is also clear that just as the leader of Azione is intent on scrutinising the programme, the Mayor of Rome has been claiming victory for some time—perhaps prematurely. If for no other reason than that, while Roberto Gualtieri may well have ‘merely invited’ Calenda for an encore, two days ago there was an Azione councillor in the front row clapping for him. Enthusiastically. Alessio D’Amato has long been an advocate of forging closer ties with the Roman Democratic Party. Perhaps because the adjective ‘Roman’ always refers to itself – and local logic is not the same as national logic – or perhaps because the PD, in the city, often holds a special allure (especially if, like D’Amato, before joining Azione, one served as a health councillor under Nicola Zingaretti).

The fact remains, however, that Calenda’s alliance with the Democrats in Rome would certainly not be a long-standing one. It is a local development destined to remain just that and to have no bearing on the political manoeuvring currently underway. It would therefore be equally simplistic to attribute it to the ‘forest and coast’ politics of the centrists. The extremely broad coalition, made so by ‘Azione’, would, if anything, be a major coup for Gualtieri. The first mayor of Italy’s largest city, capable of uniting diverse groups of people. Gualtieri, pontiff and emperor-mayor, is all the more ready to ascend to greater heights.

So whilst for Carlo Calenda it is ‘merely an invitation’ (to be accepted or declined with due care, not least with a view to a post-election agreement, perhaps, with Meloni), for the Roman PD it is the prelude not to a ‘ter’ but to a ‘third man’ (how many times have we heard that?). To a mayor who, from Rome, can set up a perfect and perfectly exportable experiment. In other words, a firm counterpoint to Schlein’s 105 points, which the senator from Azione continues to view with dread and revulsion.

Everything will therefore depend on Calenda, who is currently responding to superlatives (“very broad”) with scepticism (“we’ll see”). The alliance? It’s merely an invitation. Thanks, but no thanks? For the moment, it’s simply opposition.

Ginevra Leganza