“Schlein? The affection will never fail. The problem with the heart, the Panini stickers by heart and communism»- Corriere.it

Bonaccini, what is your first memory?

“The ball. Ever since I was two, I’ve played football all day long. I stopped at five.”

Because?

«A heart problem: the hole of Botallo, which usually closes at birth, had remained open. They gave me a goalkeeper’s uniform. But I wanted to play centre-forward. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t run and sweat like the others. At the age of nine I was operated on, in Ancona».

How did it go?

“Three months in the hospital. Now it’s a routine operation, but in 1976 they had to open my sternum. My mother Anna, who emigrated to Switzerland and then worked in knitwear, left everything to stay by my bedside. My dad who is a truck driver, Guglielmo known as Ciccio, would leave on Sunday mornings with his truck to come and visit me. In the evening he would go back to the village, Campogalliano.’

Did you then resume playing football?

«Up to 38 years. Center forward. I dreamed of being a professional; but I stopped at the Ganaceto. On the other hand, I have cultivated a passion for stickers».

Sandwiches?

“Obviously. I have two hundred complete albums. Every first of January, which is my birthday, friends give me a new album. At the presentation of Luigi Garlando’s book on Panini stickers, they gave me a test: I had to recognize the players, with their names covered. Everyone from 1970 onwards. I haven’t made a mistake.”

Look, they’ll make fun of you, they’ll say he’s crazy...
«If anything, he’s sick of football (Bonaccini laughs). With a good memory. As a child I did the championships by myself, playing with stickers…».

You began politics at the age of twenty in the PCI.

«I cannot and do not want to say that I have never been a communist. I was an Emilian communist. And I have nothing to be ashamed of; indeed, I am proud of it».

Last month in Livorno he had himself photographed under the historic red flag. He knows, right, that communism was a tragedy?

“Our side has been aware of this for decades. When Occhetto said we had to change the name and symbol, I thought: finally. And I convinced my parents: they too were aware of the need to change, but with a few more lumps».

Were they communists too?

“Militant. But when they saw Moro, Zaccagnini, Tina Anselmi on TV, they said: “L’è na breva persauna”, she is a good person. Soviet communism destroyed freedom. But let me remind you that the Italian Communists helped liberate the country. And to make Emilia one of the richest regions in Europe, while in 1946 it was among the poorest in Italy».

Togliatti said that Emilians are good at administering, not at doing politics.

“But the only centre-left man who beat Berlusconi is Romano Prodi.”

What is your first public memory?

«At home we talked about Piazza Fontana, about Italicus. But the real shock came on August 2, 1980. I was watching the summary of the Moscow Olympics, when the news arrived: a boiler exploded at the Bologna station. Instinctively I thought: how does a boiler explode in the summer? Since then I have never missed a procession on August 2, to remember the fascist massacre».

You know that the sentence is highly contested.

«For me the tombstone bears witness. As Paolo Bolognesi, the president of the victims’ association, says, the sentence is carved on the tombstone: the massacre was the work of fascists, with the collaboration of deviated secret services».

Is there a fascist danger in Italy today?

“No. Giorgia Meloni is not a fascist. If anything, the danger is a sovereignty friendly to countries that have authoritarian twists, such as Hungary. And the assault on Capitol Hill, like that of Brasilia, was technically fascist. Unfortunately, the Italian right has had sympathy for Trump and Bolsonaro”.

What do you think of Meloni?

«Someone who has worked her way up. It was particularly hard for her, because she is a woman, and Italian politics is very male-dominated. If I win the primaries, I’ll ask you for a meeting.”

To tell her what?

«Certainly not to discuss the budget. To tell her that I will always consider her an adversary, never an enemy. We will meet many times. But if there is a need to welcome migrants, we are here: at Christmas here in Emilia-Romagna 130 rescued at sea arrived, I will never forget their eyes; no one must die by drowning. And if we have to vote on a government measure that we agree with, we will do so in the national interest”.

It begins like this and ends with the institutional government.

“No. In this legislature we will be where the voters have placed us: in opposition. We will only go to government if we win the next elections».

And what do you think of Schlein?

«Friendship and affection will never fail. If it’s my turn, I’ll involve you in the secretariat. If it’s your turn, I’ll put myself at your disposal.’

Franceschini supports Elly.

“Dario is fully entitled to it.”

But she didn’t want to dismantle the currents?

«The currents of the Democratic Party are too crystallized. So they don’t serve to discuss, but to divide ».

Can you confirm that in the next elections the various leaders will have to stand as candidates in the constituencies?

“Of course. And, if, as I fear, the right does not change the electoral law, the lists will come out of the primaries, not from the secretariat”.

First you have to do the primary on February 26th. How many people will vote?

«A lot. I bet. We are the only party to do so. The left in Italy still exists. He wants redemption. And it will prove it.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is 14% in the polls. Aren’t you in danger of disappearing?

“Worse. It risks irrelevance. I am for returning to the majority vocation. That doesn’t mean not making alliances, which are necessary. It means not delegating anything to anyone. I don’t delegate left-wing votes to the 5 Stars, nor moderate votes to the Third Pole. We want to go get them ourselves. And also to take them to the right».

Conte evokes Berlinguer, speaks of “our history”.

«If Conte is so left-wing, he will no longer stand for elections alone; because in this way he becomes the right’s best ally ».

Basic income?

“It shouldn’t be abolished, it should be changed. An Emilian in Puglia and I in Emilia-Romagna were the first to create solidarity income. But whoever receives it must be accompanied to work. Today in Italy there is a big question: purchasing power. Enough of talking about the tax wedge».

Because?

«Because the people at the bar think it is a tax for a Piedmontese city. And we must study Gramsci, Gobetti, Dossetti, Bobbio, our noble fathers, and at the same time we must be able to speak like the people at the bar. Let’s talk about the job tax cut. The entrepreneur stabilizes a precarious? The state saves it.”

Autonomy?

«Yes, but not that of Calderoli. You must not move money from one Region to another, but allow each one to plan investments and cut bureaucracy”.

You supported Bersani in the 2012 primaries, and Renzi in 2013.

«Pierluigi always has my esteem and my affection. Renzi was supported by the vast majority of voters and leaders of the Democratic Party. Then he was the one who left.”

Renzi called it the Bruce Willis of Campogalliano.

«I was already bald, but I didn’t have a beard yet…».

There has been a lot of talk about her makeover. What is it due to?

«Always in the heart. I had an illness. I had to lose weight, and I did: ten kilos in three months».

And the famous teardrop glasses?

«My wife Sandra chose them. Do you think that on social networks they attacked me for photos with two girls. They were my daughters, Maria Vittoria and Virginia».

Who is Bonaccini really?

“One who doesn’t get depressed and doesn’t get excited. Ligabue would say a life as a midfielder. The first election as president was sad: they investigated me in the investigation for crazy expenses, I was acquitted; I won, but few voted. The second election was an extraordinary battle: almost 70% voted, I had the absolute majority».

Salvini was at an all-time high.

«All the polls gave me a beat. I was president of the association that brings together one hundred thousand European local authorities, I could get elected in Brussels. Instead I began to tour the 330 municipalities of Emilia-Romagna. Of each I can tell the name, the number of inhabitants, the name of the mayor…».

Like the Panini stickers.

«It is a wonderful Region. Think only of music: Verdi and Toscanini, and then Pavarotti, Vasco, Dalla, Morandi, Bertoli, Zucchero, Carboni, Curreri, Mingardi, Nek, Casadei, Pausini, Milva, Iva Zanicchi, Orietta Berti who is testimonial of our food products, Cremonini, Guccini. And the Nomads. Founded in 1963. Now we will celebrate the 60th anniversary…».

In addition to the Nomads, would you like D’Alema and Bersani in the Democratic Party?

«I want an open and plural Democratic Party; but I think first of the voters than of individual politicians. What I have in mind will be a party with a strong reformist imprint. Leftist, but not ideological or maximalist. Who knows how to make people dream and translate ideals into reality».

A name?

«First of all the people who have distanced themselves from the Democratic Party. Then: Liliana Segre, the most authentic testimony for the new generations of the difference between good and evil. And Federico Buffa, to talk a little about football».