Gianni Di Capua
On the day of the signing of pre-autonomy agreements in Veneto and Lombardy, center-right leaders met at a sold-out Gran Teatro Geox in Padua to give a boost to Alberto Stefani, 33, the League’s deputy secretary who is running post-Zaia in the November 23 and 24 regional elections. “The centre-right has ruled Veneto for 30 years and the results are there for everyone to see, but we can do better. Thank you for wanting to guarantee many years of good governance in passing the baton from Luca Zaia to Alberto Stefani,” were the words of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who were greeted with thunderous applause from the audience, where the flag of the Italian Brotherhood dominated that of the League and Forza Italia. The tenant of Palazzo Chigi, again, in an important part of his speech, spoke about the referendum on judicial reform and stated: “Don’t be fooled. Go and vote by looking at the contents of the reform. They will try to convince you of everything, that if you then vote, it is a referendum on the government, ‘Meloni yes – Meloni no’. Look, the government remains in office until the end of the legislative term, we will also set this record “. Then the attack on the left “with a stench that disturbs the working people. And look – stressed the prime minister – I didn’t say it, Romano Prodi said it. The professor had to admit a few weeks ago that the left did not win the elections, because they had left Italy.
Returning to the challenge of facing the centre-left in rivalry with Giovanni Manildo, Meloni said: “I want to say it straight: we will not let Veneto become a banlieue”. Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister and leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, who thanked Zaia for his 15 years of rule at the Palazzo Balbi, did not hide: “The aim, I say with equanimity and superstition, is not to win, but to win decisively in the Veneto”. Secretary of Forza Italia and vice-president of the Council, Antonio Tajani, also said the same thing: “Center-right unity means future and perspective. I also want this party to win a landslide victory in Veneto. By uniting we will give more hope to our country. We are the future, the left is the past.”
A day marked by the signing of a pre-agreement by the Minister of Regional Affairs and Autonomy, Roberto Calderoli, with Luca Zaia in Veneto and Attilio Fontana in Lombardy regarding four non-Lep areas: professions, civil protection, complementary and integrative social security, and coordination of public finances in the health sector. The first ceremony will be in the morning in Venice, the second in the afternoon at the Palazzo Lombardia, while tomorrow the vows will be held in Piedmont with Alberto Cirio and in Liguria with Marco Bucci. “I am thinking about the full realization of differentiated autonomy to give those who govern the region greater responsibility, to define Lep throughout the national territory. Just today we signed a pre-agreement on non-Lep matters with the first Region, Veneto taking the lead, because we are serious people and, when we make commitments, they will be kept”, the Prime Minister said from the stage. For Salvini, once again, this is “a historical journey of modernity and progress”.
Therefore, Calderoli assured from Palazzo Balbi: “I am sure that, once the text of the pre-agreement is read, even other regional presidents who in the past have expressed, perhaps more politically than in content, rejection of autonomy will say ‘if this is autonomy, I will do it too'”. And Zaia rejoiced: “This is not just a signature, we are moving towards the conclusion of a historic first step.” Stefani also emphasized the theme of autonomy, then issued a challenge: “Despite the attacks and controversies, I am sure that there is a hardworking majority who will give a strong signal, but we still have the last 100 meters to run together. Let’s go forward and win these regional elections with courage.”
