There is no desire to talk in the DC house. Surprise, dismay, bewilderment are the most widespread feelings among the ruling class and young people of the party after the news that the Palermo Prosecutor’s Office yesterday requested the arrest for criminal association, corruption and other crimes connected to alleged tenders and hirings controlled by the undisputed leader Totò Cuffaro and by the men closest to him, including Carmelo Pace, the regional deputy at the head of the Christian Democratic group in the Sicilian Parliament.
The judicial boulder has fallen into a crucial political phase that was already underway: the DC has been acquiring new members for months to broaden the consensus in view of the 2027 elections with the objective prophesied by the former governor Cuffaro of reaching 20% in Sicily, the rules to be included in the end-of-year stability package amounting to 1 billion and 200 million euros, the formalization of the agreement with Salvini’s League for common lists in the next policies. Everything suddenly stopped.
The vice president of the Sicilian Assembly Luisa Lantieri, who seemed ready to leave Forza Italia to join the DC, will take her time. The deputy group leader at ARS Ignazio Abbate appears dazed because there are too many political dossiers to manage while the regional secretary Stefano Cirillo is trying to reassure the base even though he is in Africa on a mission. On the alliance front, the formalization of the agreement appears further away, after the discussions well underway, with Salvini’s League for common lists for the next political elections, an operation however opposed by the Po Valley hard core.
The DC itself, with the group leader Pace, had recently taken up the battle for the abolition of the secret vote in the regional parliament and for the increase in wages for the thousands of forestry workers. Who will carry forward the issues in Parliament and under what political conditions? Apart from the institutional and cold note issued yesterday by governor Renato Schifani who expressed “full confidence in the judiciary”, none of the centre-right allies said a word. Absolute silence.
Pd and M5s are trying to form a common front, they will meet on 13 and 14 November to try to outline a political strategy to carry forward: collecting signatures for the dissolution of Parliament, a motion of no confidence in the governor or in any case impactful political initiatives to weaken the centre-right.