disputes don’t scare me – Corriere.it

«If I’m afraid of boos? Comparison has never scared me.” It is with this spirit that Giorgia Meloni will take the stage at the CGIL congress in Rimini at noon, which for the faithful of the Prime Minister is «the lions’ den». She will come out alive, her parents are begging. And however she goes, they predict, “it will be a victory for her”. For days left and in the union led by Maurizio Landini the reception that will be reserved for the premier is being discussed. Boos are assumed, there is talk of folded arms and chairs left empty in protest, there is arguing over whether to invite the right-wing leader. So much so that two days ago, in Montecitorio, many doubted his presence in the flesh today at the Palacongressi.

«Melons thought unwelcome», will be written on the t-shirt of Eliana Como, who leads the 24 of the congressional minority (2.41%). The Fiom executive is “very annoyed” at the invitation to a premier whose identity and history she considers “explicitly fascist”. Other opposing voices may arise, other delegates may be looking for a blatant way to point out their polemical absence. All attitudes that, according to Meloni, would be “a problem for them, not for me”. Landini knows this well and if in public he raises his tone and attack the government on work and taxation, confidentially media and placa. «We didn’t invite you out of etiquette – it’s the position of the secretary general – But why it’s time for answers to people’s needs”.

At Palazzo Chigi there was discussion of the opportunity for the premier to physically arrive in Rimini at a time of growing social tensions, with workers ready to mobilize and protest and the negative outcome, to say the least, of the meeting between the government and the trade unions on tax reform. But she has no intention of deserting (“when I make a decision, I don’t change my mind”) and she doesn’t hide her satisfaction with a choice which, without false modesty, he believes brave. “If I had been afraid of booing in life I would have done another job, or maybe I would have sided with the left”, she played down on the eve. And she meanwhile she studied, took notes on concertation and poor work and was preparing to enter the ring also to respond, with her presence alone, to those who accuse her of convening the social partners only when the measures are ready and ready.

On Wednesday afternoon, leaving Montecitorio after the duel with Elly Schlein, the premier had answered the only question that seemed to be close to her heart: «The CGIL? Of course I go». The day has come. At 12 Meloni will be on stage in front of 986 delegates and will speak for half an hour, without mediation. “A nice coup for you and for Landini,” is the mood among the leaders of the CGIL. It was since 1996 that a head of government did not accept the invitation to the meetings of the most important Italian trade union. The last had been Romano Prodi. And a right-wing president had never been seen on stage. “It seems that I am the first prime minister who has participated in this event for 27 years now – a foretaste of success Giorgia Meloni – Whatever happens, I did mine».