Photo: La Presse
Edoardo Romagnoli
In the end there was no showdown because things weren’t going well for Magi. But let’s start in order. Yesterday there was supposed to be a Più Europa meeting, with only one agenda: to confirm or reject the decision of the Guarantee Council to dismiss seven members of the «Millennium List»; the “opposition” list is compared with the secretary’s list. It’s just that Riccardo Magi and his men were the ones who disappeared and of course that wasn’t a coincidence.
When the secretary realized that his majority did not have the numbers to confirm the Guarantee Board’s decision, he chose not to attend, thereby canceling the meeting. Of course, the secretary’s choice was unpopular and several DPR members wanted to express their disappointment clearly. Manuela Zambrano connected by dressing as a ghost, a quote from the famous Magi protest who appeared in Parliament with a piece of paper to protest the Meloni government’s silence on the June referendum. Bruno Gambardella instead opted for a simpler sign that read: “These ghosts”.
«First, the +Europa Secretary tried to eliminate the entire main opposition list because of an irrelevant issue, the College he supports said no to him and made SOPs, sanctions for us 7 presenters. The party made us wait two and a half months for a meeting that was supposed to mark the victory of the Magi method, but the majority of them completely melted away and didn’t show up. The Magi failed in this, we now expect a burst of dignity and a return to politics” said Valerio Federico of the “Millennium List”. Who added: “We warned the Congress that we should not start again from the shameful rush to get the last minute cards, which awarded him, and from the political program of the list that was not appropriate, but he did not listen to us and today is the result.”
Now the chairman of the assembly must reconvene a plenary session. And it doesn’t feel like it’s going to happen quickly considering it took more than two months to identify yesterday’s date. Magi will take his time to find a majority willing to “purge” the seven people on the opposition list. Which he couldn’t find this time. And if you think about it, at least according to sources close to the party, one of the “no”s received by Magi was said by Mariniello himself. +Europa’s deputy secretary, one of the advocates of sudden mass membership by the end of December 2024, will oppose the expulsion of minority groups from the assembly. Attempts were made to involve party leader Matthew Hallisey, but were unsuccessful. “What’s extraordinary is that he didn’t show up at all,” said one Assembly member. “A truly anomalous fact because if he comes there will be no quorum. A secretary has an obligation to be there and if he realizes that he does not have the number, he must do two things: either he stops action against the minority list or he resigns,” he concluded.
In practice, what should have been the final appointment was just another chapter in an ugly story that began in December. The Magi now have two paths forward: find the numbers to complete the anti-Millennium operation or give up and seek synthesis. However, the feeling is that there is no more room for recomposition. Not only because of the secretary’s desire to dictate the rules of the game, but also because of the despair and anger of some members of the assembly at the situation that had arisen. Let us remember that it all stems from the Magi’s request to completely exclude the “Millennium List”, claiming that among their ranks there would be members without his knowledge. Although the Congressional Guarantee Commission (which coincides with the Guarantee College) had certified active voters before Congress in February; therefore the consequence is also member registration. The Guarantee Council then decided not to exclude the entire list, but only suspended the seven leaders. However, for reasons other than temporary dismissal, he will also decide to dismiss him from his position.
