Ius scholae, Forza Italia challenges the League and the Brothers of Italy on the migrant front

Tajani, the mild and prudent par excellence, gambles and plays hard. Twenty-four hours after the opening shot by the blue group leader Nevi, already thunderous in itself, the leader doubles down and raises the stakes. " If the PD asks to schedule the ius scholae we are ready to approve it with them", Nevi had said. Tajani clarifies but without denying, indeed confirming in full: "It is not that we are ready to vote with the PD. It is the PD that must vote for our proposal: whoever wants to vote for it. We are ready to discuss it with everyone. Parliament is sovereign" . The hypothesis that FI would vote for a PD law was in fact so unrealistic as not to even cause concern. But if things are put the way Tajani does, the matter changes.

The first to react are the representatives of the PD minority. They jump in without hesitation. “FI’s opening is a possibility that needs to be verified and experienced,” Sensi opens the dance and from that moment the declarations of the PD reformists rain down in bursts. Elly remains covered. Tajani’s proposal, in itself, does not resemble that of the PD. With 10 years of “schooling with success ” required for citizenship, it is even, as the Foreign Minister himself states, “more restrictive than the current situation.” But politically, FI’s position is a bomb and Conte, with the quickest reflexes of the PD secretary, does not let the opportunity slip: “If FI is consistent, we will not wait for anything else.” Calenda follows suit: “If FI brings the proposal, we will support it.” Renzi tries to reveal the Forza Italia member’s cards by taking advantage of question time in the Senate: “Are you serious?” Tajani doesn't fall for it: "I am here in my capacity as Foreign Minister. This is not the right place to talk about ius scholae". The corridors of the Senate are the right place, however, and it is there that the minister and leader of the party declares himself ready to take anyone's votes.

The League is furious : " The proposal is technically wrong and also unacceptable from a political point of view". Lupi, head of Noi Moderati, a branch of FI, is scared : "Our position is known but there is no need for forcing that risks splitting the unity of the majority" . FdI's reply is a masterpiece of diplomacy. Giorgia's party is not fielding its big guns. It relies on immigration manager Sara Kelany , who avoids controversy: "For us the citizenship law is fine as it is, but we do not see FI's declarations as a problem. We discuss them with friends" . FI is also engaged in another, no less incandescent challenge. It declares itself ready for " dialogue with the opposition " to " improve the law on end-of-life care and then leave freedom of conscience" . The element to improve is the decision to cut the national health service out of end-of-life care. The restriction should serve to empty from the inside, privatizing it and therefore making it prohibitive for a good part of the population, a law on assisted suicide that the majority passes only because it is lashed by the Consulta but without any intention of doing it seriously. Except that the privatizing law is at high risk of being unconstitutional and creates obvious doubts, even made explicit in the meeting between the Pope and the Prime Minister two days ago at the Vatican, in the ecclesiastical hierarchies themselves. FI, perhaps also pressured by the Berlusconi determined to focus on the blue party as an expression of civil rights on the right, rides those doubts and breaks the majority front.

For Tajani it is a multiple gamble. If he goes all the way, asking to schedule his law on ius scholae in September, he risks causing the majority to explode and, moreover, on a position that the center-right electorate certainly does not like. The strategy he has adopted is however the only one capable of differentiating him not only in terms of nuances from the rest of the right to propose himself as the only true representative of a center that does not exist and will not exist on the left. It is a reservoir of votes of enormous dimensions; if all goes well it would be enough to compensate with interest for the votes that FI risks losing with a position disliked by the majority of the right-wing base. The risk of splitting the right is calculated. Tajani has made it clear that he is not willing to negotiate with the PD on his law. It is what it is: you can vote for it or not, not amend it. Those in FI are convinced that, on this basis, the PD will opt out. But that is not at all a given.

In short, there is a risk, but Tajani's is almost an obligatory choice. Neither he nor the majority shareholder, the Berlusconi family, intend to play a vassal role for eternity. They are aiming for an axis that, in the worst case scenario, is on equal terms with the right and to occupy a position that, being able to dialogue with the left as well, multiplies its specific weight. It is not a position that can be conquered without running risks. Whether Tajani is truly ready to run them will be understood only if and when he asks for the ius scholae of discord to be scheduled.

FROM

David Romoli