«Apply to the Europeans? I really don’t think about it»- Corriere.it

When in the Democratic Party they talk about
Paul Gentiloni
already thinking about the future, it is as if they were talking about Elly Schlein already thinking about the past. And that is enough to understand what the situation is in a party where those who cling to the European commissioner do so by imagining him as a raft: it is an instinctive act, a form of survival, waiting for the night to pass. But he, who knows the dynamics of the Nazarene and the previous episodes of cannibalism within the ruling class, is careful to keep away. Staying one step back.

Meanwhile, he has decided not to present himself in next year’s European elections. And they tell of him as “very irritated” both due to the interested pressures of friends who would like him on the track, and to the rumors spread by those who would like to put him on the candidacy carousel and then unseat him. A classic. Which then is the controversy over the future Euro-leaders, on the fact that “Paolo would have been disappointed” for having been excluded from it, since the secretary would have in mind to entrust the role of front runner to personalities outside the party.

Imagine if Gentiloni dives into the fray to refute the vulgate. The maximum reaction in recent days has been a “I really don’t think about it”, although expressed in a much more colorful way. And even the reasons with which he explained his decision resemble a shield to avoid making judgments on the current management of the Democratic Party. The institutional excuse he offered is linked to his office and the timing of the next European elections: given that the elections will be held in June 2024, it is realistic to imagine that the new commission will take office close to 2025. Therefore, until then, it is willing to run the economic department of the Commission without having distractions. For another year and a half he would send postcards from Brussels.

This choice formally removes a weapon from the centre-right’s narrative, which accuses him of “doing politics” – as Antonio Tajani says – and as the polls approach, identifies him as an opponent. In fact, there is a reason if, after months of feeling, Giorgia Meloni accuses him today of “failure to supervise” the Pnrr
during the previous governments and therefore holds him responsible for the non-payment of the third installment. However, the premier’s vis controversy was unloaded on a formidable rubber wall, a typical attitude of Gentiloni, accustomed to facing the vehemence of characters such as Matteo Renzi, who to attack him called him by his double surname: “Count Gentiloni Silveri…”.

It will be seen whether the disagreements with «Giorgia» have jeopardized «Paolo’s» candidacy for the presidency of the European Council: this is being talked about in the corridors of Palazzo Berlaymont. What is certain is that the Italian representative in the Commission wants to manage his near future away from Rome and the Nazarene. In the meantime, there are those who foresee an international assignment for him before a return to the national stage. And it is here that some dem executives, speaking of Gentiloni and the years to come, consider Schlein only a parenthesis. The problem is not the polls,
according to which «the Elly effect» is already over,
but the party line. Nobody uses the invective of the governor from Campania Vincent DeLuca, convinced that the current management will cause even more disastrous results. But many fear next year’s polls: «We won’t run the risk at the Europeans, but at the administrative ones. And the secretaries of the Democratic Party usually fall after the local elections».

In the Democratic Party there are those who consider Gentiloni as a reserve of the Republic, perhaps destined for institutional positions, given his curriculum vitae. But there are also those who would like him in a purely political role, as “federator of a new centre-left”, capable of picking up the baton left by Romano Prodi, and destined to lead a competitive rally in the challenge with the centre-right. The suggestion tickles the wishes of some exponents of the liberal-reformist current present in Action today, to the point that one of its leaders does not hesitate to expose himself: «If Paolo were there, I would have no doubts about the choice».

But «Paolo» (who does not trust) will remain until December 2024 in Brussels. And it won’t be easy for his supporters (and his opponents) to get him out of that bunker. He doesn’t think about the Europeans, not even at games in the Democratic Party and in the centre-left. With Schlein they met in May: he spoke from the stage of the Festival of Economics and she listened to him.

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