Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein, the parallel lives of two leaders who are different in everything (but similar in everything) – Corriere.it

In the beginning there were Cartoons. And so, if Giorgia intoned: «My name is Memole/ I am the elf/ I am in a forest/ and I have many friends!». Elly was already preparing the countermelody: “Fleeing then with an agile dash/ Cat’s eyes! / A new blow has been made!». And if Schlein now ventures «Image» by Lennon on Cattelan’s piano, Meloni imitates Meloni on the phone with Fiorello, where he vows to vote for the left. Forget it, don’t get in the way, it’s professional stuff. How much suffering for those who try. Tal Quadrozzi, who, to help or help himself, compares his leader to a Rolex and his opponent to a Casio. Or Serracchiani, who, floundering after the defeat, accuses the prime minister of subjection to males and has to collect a “Look at me, Honorable, do you think I’m one step behind men?”.

Here they are, Meloni and Schlein, shaking hands after the first face to facethanks to a question time. Even if the challenge is equally tough, it has nothing to do with the boxers who compete before the match: eyes planted in eyes, noses touching, menacing breaths. Not at all, they follow codified rules: soapy fingers that barely touch each other, gazes strictly aimed at the audience, quickly moving away.

They are, in different ways, in charge of two teams. The first governs the country and an alliance, and in its role it works, even at the cost of resorting to melonicentrism to mend the smudges. The other is at the head of a community, or at least that’s what was written in the national assembly that crowned her secretary, because at the first opportunity she let slip, losing the “we”: «You govern, now it’s ME in opposition». Different in everything, similar in everything, above all they don’t like to knock before opening the doors. “We will not betray,” Meloni swears. “We’ll do our best,” Schlein promises. And both are only afraid of themselves: “I always feel at the final exam,” confesses the first. “I have performance anxiety,” admits the second.

Just five months have passed since Giorgia’s oath, with Berlusconi and Salvini forced into the mischievous role of gregarious. And it’s only been a month since Elly has confined to the role of
number two Bonaccini
, who now believed he had made it. Yet, the polls are already dealing with them, in the role of challengers. With two caveats. One is clear that she is premier of a consolidated majority, however fibrillating here and there.

The other knows well that it has to chase, with a divided opposition that fears it a little and waits a little to see it crash. Consequently, there is no shortage of tactics. With Schlein choosing where and when to launch attacks or retreat. And with Meloni who denies her last name when it’s time for a fight: «I wish to answer the questions…». Professionals, indeed. The second caveat concerns surveys, which must be read as well as watched.

Elly is growing, but above all compared to the post-election meltdown, because at the moment the theoretical result is just above the vote of September 25th. Giorgia is down slightly, but well beyond her result which allowed her to conquer the leadership of the country. The Democratic Party devours Giuseppe Conte’s Five Stars, who swears revenge. Brothers of Italy collects the victory in the Regionals without humiliating the allies, which in part helps. And then, as Totò said, it’s the sum that makes up the total. And if the comeback dem is made by increasing the gap with Calenda, for now it does not seem that the divisions of the centre-right foreshadow ruptures.

In short, it would already be time for a phase two. Because the phrase of the feminist Lisa Levenstein, “even this time they didn’t see us coming”, Gospel for Elly, alone can no longer be enough, that they noticed it, damn how much they noticed it, and she knows it well. And Giorgia could answer with the Bible, the book of Daniel: «You were weighed in the scales, and you were found wanting», but it would be an imprudent underestimation, and you know it well. Still. Romano Prodi warns the secretary: politics is not only done in the streets. And the prime minister dribbled past the assault, in front of the CGIL and a dispute that embarrassed Maurizio Landini more than her: “I’ve been booed for thirty years, I’m a knight of merit in this matter.”

But then, look at the cases of life, it is Meloni and Schlein who hold up the banner of cohesion with Europe and the United States against the invasion of Ukraine, controlling their riotous neighbours. One is asking for the League, which keeps its ministers out of the room, the other by resisting the Five Stars and sponsoring peace without, however, backing down on arms supplies.

For what remains it is wall against wall. On migrants, with Elly asking for a European “mare nostrum” mission and with Giorgia saying that we cannot welcome everyone. One praises Europe’s green dossiers and drinks water strictly from a carton, the other calls for national ways for the ecological transition and keeps a small plastic bottle on the table. The secretary wants a minimum wage and the center-right leader replies that she would impoverish the workers. Schlein wants to legalize cannabis and Meloni claims it is an abomination.

Elly asks for the recognition of the children of same-parent couples and Giorgia promotes a law so that surrogacy is a universal crime.

One doesn’t marry but understands environmentalists who soil monuments, making Dario Nardella blush as well, and the other considers them outrageous. Up to the face to face, with Meloni in a dark jacket and light shirt and Elly in a light jacket and dark shirt. In some ways, a big step backwards in terms of comparison and mutual recognition, in others, perhaps, a good debate. After all, it is still from the clash between matter and antimatter that the universe was born.