“Pd and 5Stelle are different from us” – Corriere.it

RIMINI — «Could I govern with the people who are here? No, because I don’t share their foreign policy: for me Ukraine should be supported and Russia defeated militarily». This is how the leader of Action begins, Charles Calendawhen it’s his turn in the round table moderated by Lucia Annunziata who compared the secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landiniand all opposition leaders in front of the thousand trade union delegates gathered for the congress of the CGIL.

And so it breaks up, igniting the debate which, until then, had remained on predictable tracks. Almost a provocation, with which he gets a volley of whistles, perhaps sought, certainly ridden: «You want me to sing to you All you need is love or tell you what I think?».

Whistles and applause
In short, while everyone is wondering if tomorrow Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who will also come to Rimini, will be booed by the CGellini, Calenda has taken her dose of boos and without drama. Indeed, precisely because Calenda showed in front of everyone how much her positions, on certain issues, are “at the antipodes”, as she said, from the other center-left formations, in the end it demonstrated the need for a real confrontation between the opposition partiesif they really want to try to build the so-called “large field”.

The people Calenda wouldn’t govern with are Elly Schleinnew secretary of the Pd, Joseph Contehead of the 5 Stars, Nicola Fratoianni, leader of the Italian Left, all on stage in Rimini. It is not only military support for Ukraine that is dividing, but the judgment on Renzi’s Jobs act, which Calenda defends and Schlein and the others would like to cancel in all respects. As well as incinerators: 11 are needed in Italy, says Calenda, because these are better than “the rubbish that pollutes the most”, while Conte argues that no, there are technologies that are less polluting than waste-to-energy plants. Finally the patrimonial, relaunched by Fratoianni and dear to the CGIL. “Do you know how much it yielded in France? 400 million”.

Common battle for health care
But there are also “common ground”, says Calenda himself. First of all public health, on which he proposes a common battle of all the oppositions to force the government to invest at least 10 billion in it. And the taxman. The government reform, which aims at a flat tax, is not liked by any opposition leader, just like Landini. The reform, according to them, favors the rich and betrays the Constitution. Then there are topics where the positions are articulated. The minimum wage by law, for example, industrial policies and their relationship with decarbonisation, pensions. “There is no money to do everything – says Calenda -. I want to do things together, but first we need to clarify how to choose priorities». And here he manages to get some applause.

No photos of Vasto
It was then up to Schlein to acknowledge that the wide field was not around the corner and to propose to the others: «See you outside too. Let’s lock ourselves in a room until late at night and I’m convinced that we can agree on something». And what do you say, Annunziata asks. Difficult to close the door. And in fact Conte, Calenda and Fratoianni don’t do it. But if the door remains open, it will be seen, in fact, out of here, out of the CGIL congress. The debate is over. It’s time for the ritual photo. Calenda does not shy away. But he specifies: «We are not here for any photos of Vasto (it was 2011, Bersani, Vendola and Di Pietro, ed.), There is no alliance. Pd and M5S they are one thing, we are a different thing, not because I dislike them, but because we have different ideas on 90% of the political agenda».