«A Bicameral for reforms? Only if the Democratic Party also agrees»- Corriere.it

Roberto Calderoli, Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies, accuses you of wanting to “split Italy” with your reform for regional autonomy. North against South, the League that wants to plant its flag and Meloni is worried, oppositions on a war footing, governors in turmoil. How does it defend itself?
“I really will move on to the complaints in a while.”

Really.
«No one can dare to accuse me of betraying the Constitution by which I swore, splitting the country would be. So either someone finds an article, a paragraph, a line in my reform text where it emerges that the South is being damaged, or they have to keep quiet. I’ll tell you more.”

Thing?
«By betraying my origins from Bergamo and Lombardy, after having heard from presidents Zaia and Fontana, I started to think with my head on the other side. From the South. Because I am convinced of one thing: Italy is a train where each carriage must carry passengers with the same capacity, and if some carriages become a burden, they derail. If only the North is strengthened and the South is not helped to grow, it’s over. And it is right that when we have decided to guarantee civil and social rights to the whole territory, the North is the first to show its face. This is my spirit.”

But in the Democratic Party they contest, there are those who complain that the reform has not yet been examined by the State-Regions conference.
«On the Democratic Party we are waiting for them to hold their congress, now I see too much propaganda. Bonaccini disputes that even education and health can be subjects subject to the transfer of competences between the State and the Regions when, in 2018, he asked for them for his Emilia-Romagna region. On the matter of discussion, I have had a continuous and direct dialogue with each governor, I have participated in two conferences, I have waited for their decalogue, I have taken them into account. Now I have sent a text to the CDM for preliminary approval, then it will have to be launched. It is not a decree, it will take at least a year before defining the Lep, then there will be the implementing laws. At least the world will not change before 2024».

They also accuse it of not having provided an equalization fund for the less wealthy regions.
“Either they don’t read the texts or they don’t understand them. The special fund provides for intervention both on the equalization fund and at the level of extraordinary interventions, intended not only for those who ask for differentiated autonomy, but also for those who do not ask for it».

But there are also doubts in the government itself and, it seems, a brake on Meloni’s part.
«Whoever writes or tells these things drank too much sparkling wine on New Year’s Eve. But what problems? Minister Lollobrigida himself has just said about me that it is the “duty” of a minister to act quickly and concretely”.

However, FdI wants to accompany autonomy with presidentialism. Are you in favor?
«That’s fine, but it is a fact that they are different paths, because autonomy requires ordinary law, presidentialism a constitutional reform. Both serve the country. And I do not exclude that presidentialism could also be outlined for 2024″.

With a Bicameral?
«I don’t believe much in the instrument, because so far it hasn’t worked, and if I interpret the words of the head of state correctly, it seems to me that the 138 procedure is more in line with the Constitution for him too. However, if one thinks of a Bicameral with special powers, I would first check carefully the intentions of the opposition, at least of the Democratic Party, given that I don’t count much on the M5S and the Left. Otherwise, the procedure with article 138 is better».

Sincere: how much is the approval of autonomy needed for a League in obvious political difficulty?
«Look, the polls today give us around 9%. I continued to work head-on for the League even when we were at 3.9% because I don’t think you earn anything by chasing after something, but by doing the things that are needed. So if someone’s goal is electoral, don’t count on me.”

Meanwhile, we are talking about a single center-right party: would you like it?
«Every beginning of the year, without other arguments, that of the single party emerges. But if the next elections that matter are the Europeans of 2024, with the proportional system, how can you think that the parties will unite in a single party? What’s the point? Also because it’s almost a law: if differences are valued, you get more votes than if you put everything together. And I’m not a masochist.”