The great return of Gianni Letta in the nomination game. He is at the table for Forza Italia-Corriere.it

«No one can afford the luxury of doing without Gianni Letta»he had heard himself repeating Silvio Berlusconi by family members, starting with the daughter Navy, in the last months. «And who says otherwise?», the Knight always answered, even in the phases in which the thermometer of the relationship with the‘Eminence of Berlusconi
or of the golden age had crashed at historic lows. But then the intention of returning to tighten the loosened bolts of a decades-long relationship was postponed, someone always got in the way and the phone was onBerlusconi-Letta axis it rang just for pleasantries.

Until about ten days ago. Solicitation after solicitation, with the Knight’s children and partner engaged in asphyxiating pressure, at a time when the path of the majority touches on the very delicate question of nominations, Gianni Letta recovers the place that has always been hers by definition: the one in which we discuss, confront each other, but then there must still be a point of fall that satisfies everyone. It’s up to him, as the Azzurri summarize, «to sit at the table that counts more than the Council of Ministers» and «to represent Come on Italy» in the very delicate game of reorganization of the subsidiaries.

And to say that the person concerned would be the first to dispute this reconstruction. If only because, as he likes to recall, «I’ve never even had a membership card from Forza Italia, since I am and feel like a man at the service of the institutions». On the other hand, as a “man at the service of the institutions”, he continued to be perceived even when the forced management of the hawks led by Licia Ronzulli had overshadowed a star, his, which had been shining since before taking the field in 1993. And that, at least in Berlusconi’s head and hearthad turned into a guiding star immediately after the 1994 elections, when it had organized a face-to-face between the Knight who emerged victorious from the vote (but without an absolute majority in the Senate) and the President of the Republic Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. Legend has it that it was the then head of state, in the presence of both, who looked the head of Forza Italia in the eye, however, pointing to Letta: «I will give you the task of forming the government but don’t dream of going to Palazzo Chigi without taking this man with him.”

Twenty-eight years later, and we are on July 20, while at Villa Grande Berlusconi decreed the end of the Draghi government, both the Quirinale and Palazzo Chigi they were looking for Letta to find out what was going on. Was it possible that “the man of the institutions” knew nothing about it? Possible. In the only and very rapid telephone contact, the Knight limited himself to a cold communication: «Gianni, it’s useless for you to come. I already know how you think». And a script with a more or less identical ending would be written a month later, when all the causes pleaded by Letta for as many candidates in the FI lists (Andrea Ruggieri, Sestino Giacomoni, Valentine Valentini) had ended up on a siding.

But then, faced with a partnership of this kind, we know that it is always a matter of time. Of time that does not corrode; rather, on the contrary, fix. On the day in which Berlusconi returns to the Senate after almost ten years, the day of Forza Italia’s missed vote for Ignazio La Russa, who is elected to the presidency all the same, Letta whispers in the Cavaliere’s ear: «I have to tell you, whoever has chosen this strategy has proved great political amateurism». On the other hand, the bond of sincerity is in the conditions that the two gave each other before the birth of the Berlusconi I government. «I accept to be part of it on two conditions. First, if I can continue to be a man at the service of the institutions, without ever taking a party card. And above all, secondly, if I can freely tell you of all the times that I will not agree with you». The Knight said yes. And, for Letta, that yes still holds true.