«They disengage from the M5S, positions that are too different. The minimum wage can unite the opposition»- Corriere.it

ROME Carlo Calenda, Pd and M5S have tried again the alliance in Molise…

That of the 5 Stars and the Democratic Party is a very weakened field because it cannot represent an alternative government.

They are in different positions on key issues, from Ukraine to the Mes, and much more.

Action did not endorse any candidate.

Our job is to build a pragmatic, reformist and republican area, the one embodied by the Draghi government. a tiring and long work, because it stands outside this bipolarity. The regional ones that with their dry-shift electoral system force you to pile up are the most difficult test for us. In this case neither coalition was convincing.

On the minimum wage, however, the oppositions are converging.

Yes, we have been working for some time on the only point that brings the opposition parties to agreement, all of which have this issue in their electoral program. I repeat: for us, merit always comes before ideology. Just as we vote on the Nordio reform, which was in our electoral program, in the same way we are looking for a point of fall among all the oppositions on the minimum wage to present a common proposal.

Are you on the finishing straight?

We are quite advanced along the way: if we manage to present a proposal all together, it will be a good sign for the workers. There are more than three million working poor and inflation has affected them more than all other categories. Furthermore, the European directive goes in this direction as do all the other European countries. My invitation to Meloni is not to evaluate this proposal with an ideological bias. It is good to reduce the basic income for those who can work but the conditions must be decent.

Meanwhile, it seems that Renzi is moving away.

It must be asked of him. It seems to me that there is some movement towards the right-wing coalition. What I know for sure that he wanted to keep his hands free and also skipped the single party for this reason. Legitimate, for heaven’s sake, but this is not the project we have proposed to millions of Italians. We need an authoritative and independent liberal, popular and reformist centre. Not another rib from Meloni or the 5S. Then when the government proposes something right we support it, as in the case of the excellent appointments of Figliuolo and Panetta and the same goes for the left. The little political game that when I’m in opposition I’m against the agreement with the Libyan coastguard and when I’m in the majority I sign that agreement, like the Democratic Party does, doesn’t belong to our culture. Not that Meloni does otherwise: first he says that the Mes is the end of Italian sovereignty, then he is trying to ratify it without fanfare. Everything must end there. an injury to the country’s credibility.

So at the moment there is no alternative to the right.

At the moment there isn’t, for none of us knows how the next elections will arrive, what the scenario will be. And it depends on our ability to change it. Let’s not forget that in the last legislature Meloni had 4 percent and the five stars 33.

Not even an Ursula majority possible?

The agreement that was registered in the European Parliament on Von der Leyen is now not replicable in Italy because Forza Italia is weaker and the Democratic Party does not have the courage to disengage from the 5 Stars despite the defeats. But we have to try, with this inconclusive bipolarity Italy is dead.

Returning to the minimum wage: the oppositions can still manage to do something together.

Yes, the opposition must give a concrete signal. It can also do so by converging on our proposal to use Pnrr funds to refinance enterprise 4.0, extending it to the environment and energy. On this there could also be convergence with the government, which has already shown interest. We have to break this impasse Italy is in, with Meloni yelling at poor Magi about cannabis and those others who go to the square every two by three. We need to go back to talking about concrete proposals on investments, high cost of living and health care: it would be good for the opposition but also for the majority.

In your opinion, sooner or later, the Democratic Party will disengage from the 5 Stars?

I believe he should do it in a hurry and have the courage to go “for the high seas” taking advantage of the years of opposition that await us to recover consensus in the country, but I honestly don’t think that will happen. They will keep chasing them. And that would be a fatal mistake.

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