Photo: La Presse
Tommaso Manni
“Mamdani has done interesting things: he has generated participation, he has attracted the younger generation, he was able to launch an election campaign with little funds. However, I don’t think he is a revolutionary: he is the son of a professor from Columbia University and a famous intellectual. If I really had to name a successful revolutionary mayor in New York, I would rather say Fiorello La Guardia. I don’t know how Mamdani, from an economic point of view, will be able to fulfill his promises. But new, important, facts come from the United States is another. So Romano Prodi in an interview with ‘Corriere della sera’ “This is what we need: bold but concrete reformism aimed at change”, stressed the Professor. Although the current level of wealth concentration is impressive: Musk’s severance shows that we are far beyond the level of warning talk about real topics like taxes, immigration, health, schools in the right words, without the radicalism that scares voters and that in our history has never produced results, By saying now, honestly, what you want to achieve, but also what can be done and what cannot be done, with what resources, attracting them where and at what cost, remembering that every project cannot be financed with taxes, but with concrete reformism that combines realism and courage”. And how can that be achieved? “With credible ideas and leaders.” From Elly Schlein to Giuseppe Conte, does the opposition have at least one credible leader? “Leaders can be born. Or made.”
Do you support the patrimonial system? “Talking about it today will be interpreted as the beginning of fiscal oppression. The miracle of very rich people is that they have made people believe that their fate is everyone’s fate,” answered Prodi. Will the tax cuts planned in the budget help the rich? “Yes, but I’m not the only one saying it. The Financial Times supports it, as does any serious research that is out there. It is believed that the benefit applies to people earning 2 thousand euros or more, i.e. of course the salaries are not high, while the real benefits are for much higher incomes.” After your first harsh criticism of “the center-left groups that have left Italy”, was there also a phone call for clarification with the secretary of the Democratic Party? “Yes, Schlein called me. We talked a lot in the last few weeks. I can tell you what I said – said Prodi -. I repeated what I said in public. My concern is that some voters are moving away from the center-left because they believe that the opposition comes with too narrow an interpretation of society, not enough for a concrete alternative government. And this is too late because we are more than halfway to the legislature. I have also told you to explain that I am not interested in many parties, but in a coalition government. There are many things that need to change, but frankly, a lot of people even in the Democratic Party just want to defend their role.” “Meloni has achieved nothing – claims the former Prime Minister -: growth is at a very worrying level, industrial production has very serious problems. The only strength is its duration, due to the lack of alternatives”. And if the centre-left also wins, could a Pd-M5S-Avs mix work? Or will it end like what happened to you during the Communist Refoundation? “This is a risk that Meloni also faces with the League. But Salvini has so far understood that it is better to suffer than to suffer. That is, it is better to accept a deal with another government force than to end up in opposition. However, in Conte’s mind, what he thinks his role will be is still undetermined. If the center-left emerges victorious in the political elections, let’s hope that he does not contract tinotitis. In the end, one of the two leaders, Schlein and Conte will have to admit that the other side won. But first, before that, a coalition model is needed that broad, with programming capable of engaging an audience that goes beyond current boundaries.” Is this also an implied reference to the political projects of former Revenue Director Ernesto Maria Ruffini? “I have known Ruffini for many years, I respect him and I can only praise him. I follow him with great interest and I know that in these days he will reunite his committees. I follow him as I followed with great interest what happened in Milan a few weeks ago in the Democratic Party”.
