There is a “clarification”: Giuseppe Conte and Nicola Zingaretti see each other after days of “misunderstandings”. But it is a truce, not a peace. Something is wrong with the gears of the majority and the words of the Dem confirm it, who after the meeting say that “the government has the strength to decide and do things”. The unsaid is that those things must be done and not unload the immobility on the parties. “Zingaretti and I think the same way: we have to run,” says Conte. And try to give the final push to the simplification decree, to bring it to the Council of Ministers in the next few hours, at the latest at the weekend. But a new majority summit is not enough to undo the problems. And to fuel the tensions between allies, the electoral law is back on the field, which the Pd asks to bring to the Chamber by the end of the month. Conte defends what he called “the mother of all reforms”.
It does so by reiterating to parties that it is “very quick” to approve it and that it will not allow it to be “watered down” by their doubts or requests such as that of Iv to eliminate the rules on abuse of office from the text (the accusation is that it serves “save” the mayors M5s) and tax damage. He declares, during a long walk in the center of Rome after lunch, that one must “dare”, have “courage”. And if the Anti-Corruption Authority defines “risky” hypotheses as the use of super commissioners on the Genoa model and derogations on contracts, the prime minister defends that model: “It is not admissible that in Italy we do not do or do slowly for fear of mafia infiltrations or criminals. The Genoa model worked “. In the morning, the premier returns to gather the representatives of the majority, to find a political understanding that still does not exist, so much so that more than one hypothesizes the go-ahead “except agreements” in the CDM. The nodes are the norm on abuse of office, the thresholds for tenders without tenders, the list of large public works (from the Ionic backbone to the Rome-Pescara) to be entrusted to commissioners on the Genoa model and also, says Loredana De Petris of Leu, the building rule from which the amnesty has been eliminated but “dangerous provisions” remain. Pd and Leu brake on the topic of procurement without tenders, M5s and Iv push on the Genova model. But in the fifty articles of the latest drafts there is everything from the obligation to install charging stations for electric cars on the highway to acceleration for the ultra-wide band. In recent texts, the thresholds for tenders without tenders have changed, introducing different brackets for works, services and supplies between 150 thousand and one million.
To overcome the ‘signature block’ for damages “caused by omission or inertia”, officials will be liable for gross negligence, in the rewriting of tax liability. Also of this Conte speaks face to face with Zingaretti in an hour long conversation at Palazzo Chigi. The prime minister had branded the reports of a growing chill between the two as “chatter”. But there was some problem and the pressing Pd remains strong to change the pace of government action. The secretary reminds the premier that the Dems already in April proposed a simplification decree: now they do not want to be described as those who are holding back. On a political level, Conte declares in public that it would be “a defeat for all” if M5s, Pd, Leu and Iv were not allies also to the regional ones. And Zingaretti appreciates. But at the umpteenth majority meeting (without Iv) she is smoked again in search of a unique candidate in Liguria.
In addition to the vote in September, it is pressing the Democratic Party, the government cannot present itself with many dossiers, from Aspi to the security decrees, still firm: “We do not ask for the moon but to keep our commitments”, summarizes a source. On the Mes the premier postpones the decision later, when the European aid package will be defined (the horizon is September). The risk, is the warning that would have reiterated to Zingaretti, is not to stand the test of the House in the Senate where the M5s is likely to split. This is the fear of those who propose to postpone the new budget variance to September, which could end around 15 billion, and which will have to be voted by an absolute majority (but this vote, more ‘popular’ , worries less). By August, however, the Democratic Party asks to vote on the electoral law in the Chamber.
It is a matter for Parliament, says Conte in Orlando, who urges him during a majority summit. And Graziano Delrio has scheduled the landing in plenary for 27 July. The aim is to give at least the first go-ahead to the proportional model with a 5% barrier on which a first agreement had been reached. But Iv has changed his mind and now proposes “the model of mayors”. “Outside the building the priority is the economic crisis”, Ettore Rosato cut short. “You can do two things together,” Orlando replies pointedly. Not a good viaticum. Not even for the negotiation of the presidencies of the commissions in the House, which are voted on July 14th. The race is to grab the chairs of the Northern League (Iv invokes 2 for himself). But there is still no understanding.
–
