16 October 2007

Council of Ministers. The Welfare Protocol

Text:
”As well as an account of last Friday’s meeting of the Cabinet, a reflection on the record numbers coming to vote the following day to create the Partito Democratico {Democratic Party} and the victory, that has been announced of Walter Veltroni. There was I believe, a large number of citizens who decided to go and choose the delegates for this new party.
Let’s take things in turn. At last Friday’s Cabinet meeting, no laws were approved but the main discussion was on two matters: one to postpone until the next Cabinet meeting the issue of a package relating to security. I am happy that the matter was dealt with, I agree that the regulations under discussion should be approved as soon as possible and I agree that the Government should put forward its package and that Parliament should add regulations about security and about the good functioning of the machinery of Justice. It’s no use arresting people one evening and releasing them the next morning. We in Italia dei Valori and myself as Minister, intend to take action and intervene in a “Di Pietro way” because I believe that it’s time to put an end to the period of the pretend-goody-goodies, of those who think that it’s always the fault of society when someone acts unlawfully and commits crime.
On the issue of welfare, there was an air of satisfaction and a feeling of a shared position in the Cabinet. The Ministers that abstained or voted with reservations, those on the extreme left, the Comunisti Italiani, Verdi, Rifondazione comunista and Sinistra Democratica, {the Italian Communists, the Greens, the Refounded Communists and the Democratic Left}, I felt did so more from an established position than from conviction. I have the impression that as regards the welfare package there was a substantial agreement reached, and I am in favour of that. I believe that today those who play the part of being dissatisfied are doing so to please those who are members of this or the other Trades Union or corporation.
This weekend the Partito Democratico has been formed and its leader and set of directors have been appointed.
I believe that it is a fact that is democratically important. When a party creates its leaders with the help of the votes of three million people, that should be respected.
But this, dear Veltroni, shows us that it is not politics that is winning in respect of anti-politics, as you said. By saying that you have already started off badly. When three million people vote for the PD. When 500,000 people participate in the demonstration of the Alleanza Nazionale. When one and a half million people participate in V-Day for a politics that is more transparent , for the reduction of the costs, for limiting who can be a candidate. It’s not possible to talk about politics in relation to yourself and anti-politics in relation to the others. It’s all politics. It shows that the citizens want to do politics directly, to choose their own candidates and to send home those by whom they have been taken for a ride.
It’s not a matter of politics or anti-politics. Yesterday there was a continuation in the wish of the citizens to be heard.
Today, the day after the birth of the Partito Democratico, we of Italia dei Valori ask you to give us some responses straight away: What do you want to do now? A type of politics that is liberal and in solidarity or like antiquated communists offering assistance and Stalinist direction? What do you want to do at a practical level to give security to the citizens in terms of the fight against widespread criminality, to offer a fair distribution of the tax system, and in the face of precariousness?
We are ready to have an open dialogue with the PD, a dialogue that is practical, offering participation, responsible. However, we need to know that this time it’s not a question of ecumenism at all costs by putting together a bit of everything just to get to 51%. The next coalition must be the one that governs and it must be founded on a programme, and thus it cannot be this same coalition.
With this in mind, we of Italia dei Valori state that we respect yesterday’s vote, that we admire the democratic participation of these millions of citizens, that we want to give them a positive response in terms of participating with them in the construction of the new programme and that we hope that the leader of the PD can rise to the hopes of the citizens, in such a way that we hope we too will be able to in this constructive and uniting dialogue.”

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Information