«My first forty years in politics. Quit? Only if whoever votes decides it»- Corriere.it

Pier Ferdinando Casini. Deputy at the age of 27, on 12 July 1983 he entered Parliament for the first time. The USSR was still there and Bearzot’s Italy had recently won the World Cup.
Since then forty years of uninterrupted politics, eleven legislatures, which make it the Republic’s longest serving man of Parliament in accounting for elected mandates. At the registry office the years are sixty-seven. Married twice, four children, a huge fan of Bologna, he hardly gives up his morning jog. A thousand offices, including the presidency of the Chamber. In January last year he was among the three most accredited candidates in the election that led to the confirmation of Sergio Mattarella as head of state.

In politics as a boy. Has he ever thought about quitting?
«Politics is a passion, before a career: if you contract this virus there are no vaccines. I never thought about quitting, sometimes I feared that the voters would force me to quit…».

What would you say to Caterina, the youngest of your daughters, if you wanted to get involved in politics?
«On the one hand I’d be happy about it, on the other I’d invite you to create a solid profession first. The network society will hardly allow such long political careers as happened to me and my generation».

You entered Parliament with Mattarella: is it true that today it matters less?
“The situation is incomparable. And it’s not just a quality problem of the protagonists, that exists. Over the years we have gradually witnessed a lateralization of the Parliament which today, no longer managing to have its own legislative initiative, runs here and there to “invent new jobs”. The proliferation of commissions of inquiry for political purposes is emblematic».

And the parties? Once upon a time there were mass ones.
«There was another world, there was the Berlin Wall and the ideological clash. There were ideal values ​​and currents. From 1994 onwards they became only personal parties».

Iotti, Saragat, Forlani, Fanfani, Natta, Craxi, Berlusconi… He has known them all and knows them all. What are the differences between yesterday and today?
“Let me leave this answer to the intelligence of the people. We are talking not of politicians but of statesmen, who, among other things, opposed each other but knew how to respect each other. During the years of opposition between the DC and the PCI, when the USSR was still there, my party asked me to give the first vote of the legislature to Nilde Iotti: the PCI had to be involved at the top of the state because its political strength made it inevitable This. In recent years, even the presidencies of the Chambers have become the prerogative of the dictatorship of the majorities on duty”.

And among the leaders of other countries? Who did you learn the most from?
«I respected more than anyone Helmut Kohl, the man who imposed on the strong German powers the parity between the West and East marks following the unification. That choice cost him a lot in electoral terms, but Helmut proved that he was right De Gasperi: statesmen look to the future of the country and not to the next elections ».

You brought John Paul II to Parliament…
«His final invocation “God bless Italy” is still alive in me. But fate allowed me to get to know Pope Benedict quite well and, lastly, Pope Francis: the Holy Spirit exists and knows how to choose the most suitable interpreters to guide the Church in the various hairpin bends of history”.

Was the end of the First Republic a good deal?
«It was not determined by Tangentopoli as many think, but by the fall of the Berlin wall. The changing world required new interpreters. It is useless to live in nostalgia: everything in life has a beginning and an end».

What about presidentialism?
«In a contentious country like ours, a super partes figure, a sort of pater familias, is indispensable for settling conflicts and guaranteeing institutional respect. I find no use in turning this figure into the epicenter of the clash between the parties”.

Is it true that politicians are big liars?
«A teacher of mine taught me that an intelligent politician does not tell lies, because he would lose all reliability. At most, in certain circumstances, it is better to resort to omissions…».

Politics in constant trouble, but even anti-politics seems crippled.
«Anti-politics was an optical illusion that had its day ahead of schedule. And do you know why? Because democracy and Parliament have a great pedagogical content: when these kids entered the palaces of power they understood its complexity and had to overcome their prejudices. However, let us never forget that the best ally of anti-politics is bad politics, corruption in the first place. The moral question, which encompasses the eternal conflict between good and evil, is not the invention of some journalist”.

You were the founder of the centre-right and today you have been re-elected in the centre-left. How do you judge? And how do you judge Meloni and Schlein?
«I can’t judge myself, I only know that everything has moved… I was an Atlanticist, a Europeanist and a Degasperian at school. I seem to be the same, 40 years later, on the benches of the Senate. Meloni certainly has leadership qualities and has made a long march of her own. Her worst enemies are in the ranks of the majority: there is an obvious inadequacy. Schlein is less extremist about how she is represented and how she wants to be represented. You have a difficult challenge ahead of you and it will have to be judged with that calm that it seems to me that the Democratic Party is never willing to reserve for its leaders ».

Forty years of politics. What was the worst day and the best day?
«The best day was that of Mattarella’s second election, when I received a big round of applause from all my colleagues. The ugliest? I forgot about it because I’m positive.”

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