The Ronzulli era ends, Cattaneo removed. Berlusconi’s shock for Forza Italia- Corriere.it

“We are almost at an altitude of thirty-three, we don’t need to go on”. Arcore, Villa San Martino, 5pm. Marta Fascina and the scrum pack of parliamentarians close to her pass the leaflet with the signatures of the Forza Italia deputies who signed the no-confidence motion against the group leader Alessandro Cattaneo. Three hours later, a note from Silvio Berlusconi embodies the most impressive party reset in recent history: Cattaneo is ousted from the leadership of the Montecitorio group (Paolo Barelli returns, close to Tajani) and recovered as deputy national coordinator with Anna Maria Bernini; Licia Ronzulli saves the post of group leader in the Senate in extremis but she loses what gave her true power: she was the coordinator of Lombardy. The task is assigned to Alessandro Sorte, one of the spearheads of the Marta Fascina current. The reorganization of the party was total, everywhere: Claudio Lotito was sent to lead the blues of Molise, Flavio Tosi those of Veneto, Marcello Caruso the Sicilians in turmoil, Maria Elisabetta Casellati the Lucanians.

Because everything changes, inside Forza Italia and inside Villa San Martino. Following the same liturgy that years ago had led to the defenestration of the old magic circle led by Maria Rosaria Rossi and Francesca Pascale, the management of the falcons led by Licia Ronzulli also came to an end. A management that politically had brought Forza Italia closer to Matteo Salvini’s League, before; and which, in the first months of the new legislature, increasingly marked the distance between Berlusconi and Giorgia Meloni, which resulted in tensions between October and November over the composition of the government team (with Ronzulli removed from the list of ministers by the Prime Minister herself) and in the choice of Forza Italia to deny Ignazio La Russa the vote for the presidency of the Senate (“A case of political dilettantism”, Gianni Letta dixit).

To bring down the curtain on the Ronzulli management it is a pincer operated simultaneously by the Berlusconi family and by the ex premier’s partner, Marta Fascina. And Ronzulli – among other things – would have paid for having gone against a piece of the Cavaliere’s family, his daughter Marina and his partner Marta in particular. Piersilvio too, among other things, had found himself managing tensions between the parent company in the Senate and a piece of the Mediaset world. And Berlusconi, confiding in a group of people during Salvini’s fiftieth birthday party, had drawn a straight line: «La Licia made me quarrel with a lot of people, created a lot of problems and killed a lot of people that I wanted to keep with me. I feel a lot of affection for her but we can’t go on like this… ».

Since then The changing of the guard has begun. Ronzulli was denied automatic entry to Villa San Martino, control of Berlusconi’s agenda, as well as direct contact with the Cavaliere. She will no longer be responsible for party communications and for this reason she no longer has the passwords to access Arcore’s computer systems. She received yes, and also on several occasions in recent weeks, but only by appointment. The rest has matured over the days, with the sensational acceleration in view of Cattaneo’s departure from the leadership of the Chamber group, a position to which Paolo Barelli is preparing to return, very close to Antonio Tajani and therefore the spokesperson for a decidedly more in dialogue with Meloni.

And since there are no changes so sensational without a mother scene that sums them all up, here is the scene that the service personnel of the Berlusconi house witness late Thursday evening. As soon as Dagospy announces the collection of signatures to discourage him, Cattaneo tries to get in touch with Berlusconi himself. An appointment is set for him, so the former mayor of Pavia rushes to the Arcore residence. However, no answers come from the intercom of the villa. Only after an hour, and we are at 11pm the day before yesterday, the now outgoing group leader manages to speak with Fascina. Who, in the cold of the Brianza night, adds the chill of the following words: «I’m sorry, Alessandro. It’s now 11, the president has gone upstairs, at this time he doesn’t see anyone anymore ». Eighteen hours later, inside the villa, the temperature is decidedly milder. A note, Berlusconi’s signature, a sensational reset. Everywhere.