Minardo, who joined Forza Italia, said: "The League failed by pursuing personal interests." The Northern League's agreement with Cuffaro

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" To those who say more right-wing, I reply that we need more center ." The Honorable Nino Minardo explains to Il Foglio the reasons that led him to leave the League to return to Forza Italia. "The spaces on the right are now saturated and there is no room for electoral growth," adds the president of the Chamber of Deputies' Defense Committee. For some time, the man who had been a spokesperson for the "Southern League" and who had contributed to the signing of centrist agreements, for example with the UDC, had been at odds with the Northern League. "The problem for the League, but also for other parties, is often the presence of a political class that believes the party's perimeter corresponds to that of personal interests. This is the real failure," he explains. Proof of this is the agreement the League is closing in Sicily with Totò Cuffaro's DC, which would guarantee the former president of Sicily a seat in Parliament.

The news is this: last Friday, Matteo Salvini flew to Catania to inaugurate the San Giuliano viaduct and for other institutional engagements. It was an opportunity for the Deputy Prime Minister and Northern League leader to attend the League's general assembly, attended by over 400 Sicilian administrators and organized by the League's representative on the island, Luca Sammartino. Having also moved to the Democratic Party and Italia Viva, Sammartino is widely described as a king of preferences, able to count on tens of thousands of votes. Now, Sammartino is reportedly working on a deal with the Christian Democrats, led by former Sicilian President Totò Cuffaro, to present joint lists in the upcoming regional elections, which would solve a major headache for the League. The trade-off, however, would be two seats, one in the Chamber of Deputies and one in the Senate, guaranteed to Cuffaro's party in the upcoming general election. One of the two positions, rumors are circulating on the island these days, is going to the former governor, considered by many to be unsuitable due to his final conviction for aggravated aiding and abetting Cosa Nostra. As evidence of this close connection, Cuffaro was photographed in the front row at the League event in Catania. A scenario that has many moderate League members frowning .

In any case, Minardo's considerations (who had already joined the Chamber's Mixed Group) are long-standing. Is his departure a sign that a moderate League is definitively on the wane? "Moderation isn't the result of presences but of policies and strategic choices. I limit myself to reading events, but I remain convinced that the center-right, in all its complexity, needs a strong and attractive moderate center of gravity, and that this will allow it to win the election," Minardo explained to Il Foglio. As president of the Defense Committee, he repeatedly diverged from his party's thinking, for example in his staunch defense of Ukraine. Or when he spoke of the need to complete a series of defense investments, an issue on which the League has always been timid and timid. Did this also convince you to change direction? "I'll be honest: I've never been pressured in this area, and so I've always held an institutional position and protected the national interest. My choice is determined exclusively by political considerations," the Sicilian MP replies.

Minardo, who was recognized as having almost unique expertise in defense matters within the League (and good relations with the Quirinale), has chosen to return to the party where he began his political career in 1999. This "acquisition" represents the fifth Forza Italia MP in Montecitorio since the beginning of the legislature (two MPs were "snatched" from the League, the other being Davide Bellomo from Puglia). So, on the right, should the priority be to look to the center? " Without a doubt. To those who say more right-wing, I reply that we need more center. There is a ferment in the center that is clear for all to see: in the so-called broad field, an attempt will be made to launch a moderate and reformist initiative, and consequently, the center-right cannot be caught unprepared ," Minardo continues. Clearly, there's no need to found new parties, but rather to give more space within the center-right to Catholic, liberal, reformist, and autonomist political cultures, and to promote economic policies that speak to the struggling middle class. And Forza Italia can and must undoubtedly be the linchpin of this strategy. I've been convinced by Antonio Tajani's repeated remarks: 'The right alone loses; the only antidote is a strong center, an ally and an alternative to the left.'"

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