27 June 2007

PD: what counts is the programme not the leader

Just recently all sorts of people have been asking me what is the position of myself and of Italia dei Valori with respect to the Partito Democratico {Democratic Party}.I’m publishing an interview I gave today to the Eco di Bergamo

Eco di Bergamo: There’s a lot of activity in the Centre Left as they are waiting for the official appointment of Veltroni as leader of the Partito Democratico. What is the position of Italia dei Valori in relation to this news?
Antonio di Pietro: We are not running after symbols and people. We are concerned with shared programmes.
Veltroni could represent anything or nothing, according to the programme that he intends to take forward. If he, like Prodi, believes in putting together all the characters who are in opposition to the Casa delle Libertà simply to make electoral gains, then it’s a project that’s short of breath. And you can see that in the difficulty that we are living through in the government.

Eco di Bergamo: So what will you say to Veltroni?
Antonio di Pietro: We will meet up to understand his programme: tell me who you are with and I’ll tell you who you are…

Eco di Bergamo: With whom would you not be willing to go with?
Antonio di Pietro: It’s not a matter of names but of political actions. I believe that the communist model has by now finished its experience in the whole world. The idea that this is re-launched and made more extreme in Italy as far as the “no global” phenomenon can be admitted as freedom to express dissent but we can’t have these same people in the government.

Eco di Bergamo: So?
Antonio di Pietro: So Thus the current divisions need to be taken apart and put together in a different way: the Centre Right and Centre Left are offspring of an electoral law that demands 51 per cent and thus puts together political units that have political and cultural projects for government that are totally different.

Eco di Bergamo: Are you proposing a grand coalition?
Antonio di Pietro: Something that goes beyond that. A Liberal Democratic programme that can bring together all those who think in the same way on fundamental issues like the private and public economy, solidarity, ethical principles relating to order and security…. And to justice. Why not?
Even on this topic a certain type of Left wing is ambiguous: on the one hand they say they are with the magistrates, on the other hand however they land up being the representatives in parliament of those same social phenomena that go off and smash windows, burn cars and break heads. We are looking for models of liberal democracy that do not sit well with certain phenomena of a maximalist post-communist, made up solely of rights and demands and not of duties.

Eco di Bergamo: How can the decomposition of the political scene be done?
Antonio di Pietro: With a new electoral law and a big reduction in the number of parties including my own.

Eco di Bergamo: But in Italy is it possible to think of an alliance between reformers and moderates?
Antonio di Pietro: Perhaps in a transition phase. It’s not just to be thought of, it’s also necessary.

Eco di Bergamo: However this means that even Di Pietro must remove some of his reservations for example on Berlusconi…
Antonio di Pietro: I believe that politics can no longer go ahead on names. In the transition a named reference point is needed. In the medium and long term we need a cultural reference point. Italia dei Valori is not wholly and only Di Pietro and Forza Italia is not wholly and only Berlusconi.

Eco di Bergamo: They’ve always said about yourself: “what’s the connection with the Centre Left”. And the one who said that you are there for a moment while waiting to pass over to the Centre Right, was he right?
Antonio di Pietro: These classifications are by now superseded, simply convenient screens. The truth is that there are two Centre Lefts: a reformist one that is looking to tomorrow and a maximalist one that is still stuck at the famous assistance State, where they think the cow is always there for milking and that money can simply be printed for public spending.
And then it’s not possible that in the name of a sacred principle, like environmentalism, our country can be brought to its knees by the phenomenon of “niet” at all costs, whatever happens, whether it’s roads or trains or ports or airports.

Eco di Bergamo: Nice pictures…Antonio di Pietro: However, watch out. I find certain characteristics too often in the Centre Right. Many people say that what is needed is order, the rule of law, security, the fight against crime and so on. Then, in private, they behave in exactly the opposite way.
What’s more, they make specific laws so as to avoid being put on trial and to wipe out what was previously a crime.

Eco di Bergamo: How long do you give the current government?
Antonio di Pietro: I think that the election law must be the corner stone. To start discussing when there’s going to be an election without a new election law means simply putting off the solution to the problems. That is why the reinforcement of the referenda is good. Because it gives a time frame to the reform, even though I am convinced that it will produce a law that will be impossible to put into action.
You can’t create the rules of the game with a “yes” or “no”.

Eco di Bergamo: So why do you agree with the referendum?
Antonio di Pietro: Because otherwise an election law will not be done. Or whatever is done will be a life jacket for the positions that are already made up: that is the Mastella model. And this is not good because of the more than 40 parties at least two thirds need to go. For tiny parties like us we either need to grow or we have to flow into other realities. The party’s over.

Eco di Bergamo: What do you have to say about the political protagonism of the Confindustria?
Antonio di Pietro: I can understand it. For the Confindustria and for other realities that have to have an association of entrepreneurs, professions or workers if it’s not politics of the category? But I am upset that all are complaining about what the government has done or not done, saying that they were saints that they were not to blame and that they were saving the country. This country is the offspring of the politicians, the entrepreneurs, and the bankers that we have. It’s a people of saints, poets, navigators, swindlers, a few tax dodgers, and a few wide boys.

Eco di Bergamo: Not a day passes that Prodi doesn’t meet someone and get whistled at, often spontaneously. Well is it possible to go ahead in a country where they boo those they have elected?
Antonio di Pietro: It’s not that whoever boos is definitely right. I believe that taking refuge in this type of dissent is becoming a crafty habit to avoid facing up to and sharing the responsibilities of all.
Among the causes of its economic-institutional disturbance and credibility is the waste and the privileges for politicians and bureaucracy. Not to be forgotten as well is the common sense of the possibility to break the rules.
Because if it’s true that for every 100 euro the state should gain it doesn’t get 57, this means that there is a levelling down of the ethical sense:
everybody wants but no one wants to give.

Eco di Bergamo: But here they are all booing…
Antonio di Pietro: And this means that yours is a politics in which you try to satisfy everyone, it’s the politics of saying “yes” to everyone in words without however really giving the response that the people are asking for.
The whistles are the offspring of the fact that you haven’t satisfied anyone because you didn’t know how to take a decision. I am dealing with
infrastructure: is it possible that the biggest problems come to me from the allies, from friendly fire?

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics