FusiOrari

Because of his recent meetings with the premier Silvio Berlusconi and with Mr. Francesco Rutelli, the leader of the third coalition party, the former Mayor of Milan and European MP, Mr. Gabriele Albertini, is the centre of attention for local and national political news. The Left and the Right, the Democratic Party (PD) and the People of Freedom (PDL), without forgetting the newborn party Future and Freedom for Italy (Futuro e Liberta’ per l’Italia, FLI), all political forces are courting him and trying to get him on side in view of the administrative elections for the Municipality of Milan, which are scheduled for next spring. Mr. Albertini, however, does not open his heart to anybody, he does not give way to enticements and takes his time. In a long, full-scale interview by FusiOrari, the former Mayor of Milan explains the past and looks ahead.

Gabriele Albertini, born in Milan in 1950, was Mayor of Lombardy’s chief town from 1997 to 2006. Elected with Forza Italia, he has led the centre-right coalition for two terms of office. Since 2004 he is Member of the European Parliament where, inside the EPP group, he was  - and still is -  member of several Committees and Delegations. In June 2009, he was elected again Member of the European Parliament with the People of Freedom and then appointed Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commission at the European Union. In the last months, rumor has it that he will be representing the third coalition in the next administrative elections for the Municipality of Milan, that is he will be the main rival of the outgoing Mayor, Mrs. Letizia Moratti. But will he leave the ranks of the People of Freedom? Mr. Albertini has offered a personal answer to this question and to other matters in front of FusiOrari cameras. Here below you will find some of the main issues he dealt with.

THE THIRD COALITION - “In the last days I have met Mr. Rutelli, who showed me the results of a survey according to which the new third coalition could potentially collect more than 21% of votes. This is an unusual scenario, a figure higher than the percentage obtained by comparing the total amount of the single popularity rating for each of the three parties - Union of the Centre (UDC), Future and Freedom for Italy (FLI)  and Alliance for Italy (API). It seems that this “neocentrism” collects a heterogeneous consent, originating from different political and cultural areas. It is clear that there is a need for a more open and unifying political line, ready for dialogue, less rigid and which could be able not only of affirming certain values but also of putting them into practice. I am also convinced that this survey is including the preferences and wishes of many abstentionists, disappointed and disgusted by the political class, who have not yet expressed their vote because of the unreliability of politicians.  A long time ago, I believed in the majority vote and in the two-party system,  and I committed myself for obtaining it, but I must acknowledge now that they have not worked as government expression. This situation is confirmed by the current majority, which has certainly been in a condition to take the power but not to exercise it.”

THE ELECTORAL LAW – “The Italian electoral law is really strange. Mr. Calderoli himself, who conceived it, defined it as “crap”. Indeed, we are the only Western country presenting at the same time all three limitations to democracy. In the first place, the election threshold at 4%  and at 8%. If we consider that, the percentage of voters who have expressed their preference for those parties who have not reached the threshold amounts to 15% - i.e. the popularity rating of the Northern League (Lega Nord) - we must admit that free democratic expression has been put aside. In the second place, the list vote. The whole political process is kept in the hands not of millions but of just a maniple of people who, in their turn, were not elected but appointed as little soldiers by Mr. Berlusconi. It stands to reason that in this way the relationship with the electorate is lost,  thus excluding the right of expression of the citizen who wants to choose his or her representatives. Finally, the majority bonus. It is evident that absolute majority enables you to govern free from any particular anxieties. But it does not seem fair to me that, for example, a coalition which wins with 30% of the votes gets 55% of the seats. In short, Italian people have little power unlike the élite. Our democracy is little democratic.”

THE TECHNICAL GOVERNMENT – “No government is technical. All governments are political, they must have a parliamentary majority supporting it. We commonly think that some non-partisan representatives may catalyze a wider consent since they are neutral. It is wrong, they are politicians too. And now people say there is not an alternative majority for a transitional government besides the existing one. I would say that this is still to be demonstrated. Because of the urge of dealing with some fatal, ruinous issues of national and economic character - such as competitiveness and efficiency of our employment system - a government must govern. When it is legitimated  through the electoral investiture, using consistency and cohesiveness, the executive must solve these problems in order to avoid that our country regresses to a Third World situation.”

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS – “The general scenario is dramatic, this is the most serious economic crisis since 1929. The entire world has suffered it, even those countries such as Brazil, Russia, India or China which are economically growing. As for Italy, however, besides global circumstances, more radical causes led our country to this difficult situation. I am talking about two rifts which are peculiar to Italy and which I define “vertical” and “horizontal”. The first rift, which is physiological and has recently weakened, is of ideological and political nature. For years, we have been the Western country with the strongest Communist Party. Still today, when we quarrel over power’s management, it is difficult to remove the remnants of old and contrasting views on the Cold War. Among other things, the Left itself has still to choose whether to comply with a modern reformism which is consistent with the reality of history, leaving aside the “tea parties” attitude. The second rift, the horizontal one, is much more marked and cross-party. It originates from far away and goes still farther. It is the embarrassing division between productive territories and beneficiary territories, between Northern and Southern Italy. More explicitly, the largest amounts of money are taken from the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Lombardy in order to finance southern regions, a process which ends by wasting energies and resources. This apparently seems just a Northern League claim but it is instead a national issue. The losing of a balance is such that our country is economically damaged. High taxation and huge tax evasion, especially in the South, are the most direct consequences of this phenomenon.  In this perspective, Mr. Tremonti (the Minister of Finance, translator’s note) is the person who has acted most. Thanks to the decrees implementing federalism, there is a prospective chance to re-establish a balance between those who produce and parasites. Government cuts, however, must be quality cuts, they have to pull out resources from unlawful earnings using them for lawful actions. Obviously, the Southern resistance must be won, since in the South there are people who are happy of earning a salary without working or paying taxes. This is a project that honestly encounters many difficulties.”

MR. FINI – “He is at the same time a free man and an imprisoned man. He is free since, after the historic question to Mr. Berlusconi: “What are you doing? Are you throwing me out?” , freed himself from his subjection to Berlusconi. For this reason, some have considered him an arrogant man, while some others a charismatic political man. He owes a lot to Mr. Berlusconi, it is true, but Berlusconi himself owes a lot to him. And the consent he creates all over Italy is due neither to his position nor to the media effect derived from his institutional office, the latter not giving him a particular renown or popularity. Nevertheless, he is also a man imprisoned by that same federalism which he first supported and then partially withdrawn. This is his weak point. Since the beginning, the People of Freedom had altogether invested in the horizontal rift and now Mr. Fini, by adopting a different position, finds himself in an embarrassing situation. Mr. Casini and his party, the Union of the Centre, instead, have been more consistent in their attitude: they have always voted against federalism.”

FUTURE MAYOR? – “My candidature for Milan depends on choices made by others, on situations external to my will. I received captious proposals by local representatives of the Democratic Party (PD), who invited me for inaugurating a municipal list which could have potentially reached 10-15% of votes.  Actually, this list was to be used only for taking the real candidate of the Left to the second ballot. I should have been the wrecker and favour their political line. I would have never reached the second ballot. The “centrist” solution is instead more serious and manageable. It is true that there is a possible candidature but it is not enough. Before making such a sensational choice, I must see how the situation at national level evolves, first of all the moves of the party Future and Freedom for Italy and whether possible external backing exists. Then I will decide, listening to my conscience.”

MRS. LETIZIA MORATTI – “She is now trying to make up for part of the consent she has lost during her mandate, thanks to a unremitting communication activity. Her popularity rating, indeed, was fixed around 30%. Now, therefore, thanks to a great media investment, it has risen again up to 40%. She finally shows herself interested in the daily life of the city and has dropped her image of stateswoman she had put on from the beginning. I imagined myself as a sort of apartment house manager, she evidently had another opinion. In her vision, municipality’s affairs had to be solved by the members of her staff, while she was occupied to shake hands with heads of state. Now, with the elections approaching, she has understood the real job of a Mayor and she is trying to make up for lost time.On the other hand, if the Union of the Centre leaves her list and part of the People of Freedom party pours into Future and Freedom for Italy, her personal attitude would play a particularly important role in the competition. Still more if there is a second ballot when, as historically proven, our electorate tends to  desert the polling booths.”

THE NORTHERN LEAGUE – “As for administrative elections in Milan, in case no breaking at national level occurs, the Northern League would consistently remain loyal to the PDL. Its members would express their opinion on the town council and in the end they would be satisfied with getting a considerable number of town councilors. In case a breaking occurs, they could make an autonomous choice, presenting their own candidate. He could be either Mr. Maroni or Mr. Castelli, surely not Mr. Bossi because of his well-known health problems. As for me, after having solved some historical issues, my relations with the “Carroccio party” (i.e. the Northern League, translator’s note) are good.  I agree with the federalist line as well as with the fact that we must be active on the territory and listen to the voices of the suburbs. Even Islamic migration cannot be ignored. In this connection, I think we must be less politically correct and closer to the citizens”.

IMMIGRANTS – “We must deal with the issues of welcoming and integrating people who are different from us but, at the same time, popular feelings should not be ignored. Some attitudes so distant from our vision of life and values that cannot be accepted. Either they become like us or we cannot be asked to become like them. It is true, the building of mosques and the free practice of one’s own religious belief are rights guaranteed by our Constitution, but it is at the same time true that, as I have been taught, we must draw a distinction between the strict principle and the flexible attitude, we must adapt the principle to circumstances. In real terms, it is difficult to build a place for Islamic worship in Milan in this moment, in the light of what happens everyday before our eyes,  because of the existing contrasts and the clash of civilizations.

SEXUAL MINORITIES – “When I was Mayor of Milan I personally refused my support to the Gay Pride, because I acknowledged the legitimacy of my backing only to those demonstrations in which everybody identifies, where there are meanings and values towards which the whole community should aspire to. Homosexuality is not part of it, there are no underlining values, nor is it a practice of everybody. Obviously, this is not a phenomenon which is to be denied or repressed but we cannot expect it to be institutionally supported. There is so much propaganda on something that must be fully accepted and tolerated but which cannot be put on the same footing as a family. I am not saying this because I am homophobic  but because, as it is taught by the history of mankind and as it is written in our Constitution, the traditional family is the fundamental cell of society and as such it has to be favoured. It is a project of species’ eternity, it is procreation and marriage. Homosexual freedom? No problem, but the traditional protections granted to family cannot be extended to other forms of unions.”