Security decrees (to be dismantled), climate, equal leave, increase in salaries and stabilization of temporary researchers. These are the measures that the four leaders of the broad camp promise to approve in the first council of ministers. As long as, it goes without saying, you win the elections. Elly Schlein, Giuseppe Conte, Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli met yesterday on stage at the Avs party in Rome to cement unity and chart the course ahead of the vote. “The things we have in common are 4850 – said Elly Schlein speaking to the audience – and when I hear that we are divided on foreign policy, it is false”.
In fact the confrontation never degenerated into a clash, on the contrary. Schlein and his allies have promised that they will start working on the common program after September 20, once the internal process of the 5 Star Movement has concluded, but in the meantime they have offered a preview of what a progressive government could be.
The first CDM of the wide field: Bonelli focuses on the climate
Which measures would have priority once at Palazzo Chigi? Bonelli’s priority “is a proposal on the climate, on renewable energy, because we must lower the cost of energy” explains the deputy in response to a question on the coalition’s first CDM. “Eni must be told that it must change its social mission, that it can no longer think of making profits on the pockets of pensioners and families”. For the leader of the Greens, therefore, “the time has come for a change of scenery”. “There has been a cloying debate in France, whether air conditioning is on the right or on the left? Well – he continues – we want to say that the right to fresh air belongs to everyone, the right to be able to keep warm, the right to stay in liveable cities and to conserve our nature”. For the founder of Avs, a law on climate warming would be the first thing to do “despite the climate freaks and deniers of this Italian right”.
Security decrees and abuse of office are in Conte’s sights
The ball passes to Giuseppe Conte. “The first council of ministers will last a very long time because we waited a bit of time”, the former prime minister ironically took the floor, “we worked with very clear ideas and therefore we will have a lot to discuss. Apart from the measures on which we have already agreed which concern for example minimum wages and real wages”, or “the most urgent things for the country”, Conte cites among the proposals “absolutely significant to give the sense of a turning point also at an international level, the recognition of Palestine” and “the interruption of military cooperation agreements with Israel”.
“But I believe – continues Conte – that in the prime minister’s council we must also add the repeal of all those rules that have been included in various measures to repress political dissent, to suppress civil protest and to dismantle all anti-corruption measures”. According to the M5s leader, therefore, a possible left-wing government should start from the abolition of the security decrees. And not only that. “We must reintroduce the abuse of office which would be the abuse of the powerful, and all those shameful rules that characterize their government activity.”
Elly Schlein and equal leave at 100% of salary
It’s Elly Schlein’s turn: “I agree with everything that both Angelo and Giuseppe said in advance and this is already news, regarding the cohesion of the coalition. I totally agree with Angelo that the climate must be a priority – explains Schlein – because heat waves have caused 35,000 premature deaths in Europe. And I would like to understand – he adds – why in Italy we still don’t know the precise estimates, while in Germany, in other countries it is a topic of daily discussion. For enthusiasts of the topic this has translated into a loss of GDP of 180 billion. Heat waves that expose the most vulnerable people, starting with the elderly, and which among other things we must combat with a series of measures.
“I think that some things we have proposed, moreover, can be done immediately at zero cost, I am thinking of the minimum wage – explains the Democratic secretary -, which was our first unitary proposal”. However, she reveals, “among the unitary proposals there is one to which I am particularly attached because it is the one that has my first signature, it is the one that finally tries to insert a norm of civility in Italy”, that is “equal leave. Imagine an Italy in which when a son or daughter is born you have 5 months of equal leave for both parents, not paid at 80% but at 100% for both. We also help fathers to see their children grow up – she underlines -, we help to eliminate the inequalities of the first years of life”.
“There is a gigantic unsaid” he remarks, “when the right cuts welfare and even cuts the money for new nurseries, it puts everything on the shoulders of families”, making the latter “a living welfare substitute for what the State should do, because care is not an individual or family responsibility, but it is the first collective responsibility that the Republic must ensure. And I say in front of this, think about it, the right told us no, it stopped us, but within those families the burden of care remains above all on the shoulders of the women, keeping them curbed from the point of view of work and business for those who want to start one. And it is not only unfair, it is uneconomical”.
Fratoianni focuses on wages and stabilization of temporary workers
Finally it’s also Nicola Fratoianni’s turn. “Today the CNEL, not a subversive source, told us that four out of five young people who fled this country would return tomorrow if there were decent salaries” begins the Avs leader.
“Here, a measure for wages and salaries in this country seems like an emergency to me. And then there is another thing I would like to say. In this country we have a few tens of thousands of temporary workers from research institutions, from universities, those are the future of this country, of its competitiveness, of its ability to look at innovation, we can stabilize them. Long live God! It would take around 1 and a half billion to stabilize them all, the 30,000 from the university and the 4-5,000 from the research institutes. Let’s take some of that money that Giorgia Meloni has, let’s say, promised Donald Trump to reach 5% of GDP on military spending and a future for the country. Then of course, then of course, do you all agree?
Asset? “I want to convince them”
Fratoianni, however, also focuses on assets. And turning to his allies he says: “I want to convince them. This is a curious country” he observes. “They crucified me this summer because they because I was one day with three dear friends in an establishment where they said a sunbed cost €70. In fact the sea costs too much for Italians. Then when we suggest asking for a little something from those with assets of 5 million euros, they say ‘Oh, you want to touch the middle class!’ Come to an agreement. Yes, perhaps taxing the super rich can be done.”