Tensions in Forza Italia, Occhiuto rejects the congresses and relaunches: “Fresh air is needed”

Everything is frozen while waiting for the meeting which should be on Thursday – if not after Easter Monday – between Antonio Tajani and Marina Berlusconi. A face to face between the Foreign Minister and the president of Mondadori, which comes at a moment of maximum tension within Forza Italia. The change at the top of the Senate between Maurizio Gasparri and Stefania Craxi in the aftermath of the defeat in the referendum and the discontent – currently frozen – for Paolo Barelli, president of the Azzurri deputies, illustrate the state of relations between the Azzurri. In the background, the question of conferences on which the FI summit, Tajani in the lead, wants to move forward quickly, but on which there are many doubts in the home of the Azzurri. And Roberto Occhiuto, governor of Calabria, clearly states that the issue should not now be a priority: «We must have less anxiety about membership and congresses and, perhaps, a little more anxiety about the ideas that we must provide to the centre-right», is the position taken by the deputy secretary of the party who, without mincing words, adds: «Traditional parties have died of traditional congresses. I’m simply saying that we have 250 thousand members, as many as Fratelli d’Italia has, but we have a few fewer votes. We should try to get a few more votes with less attention to membership and conferences.” Occhiuto refers to the history of Fi and the Cavaliere: «What Berlusconi did in ’94, and which then continued in the following years, was not an action to seek only the best within politics, he tried to open the party also to those who had never been involved in politics before. We should do this, we should open the windows of the party and let lots of fresh air into Forza Italia.” The dossier on congresses, they reason within FI, will certainly be one of the arguments between the deputy prime minister and the president of Mondadori. It is difficult to understand the outcome: there are those who are betting on an agreement that leads to the postponement of the congresses without there being any further changes in the party’s organizational chart. Yet others are confident that Paolo Barelli will also be replaced after Easter. Also because, the more mischievous observe, in the group of deputies those in favor of a change at the top are – with the accounts in hand – more numerous than the supporters of the current group leader. The name in question to replace him is that of the current vice president of the Chamber Giorgio Mulè although in the last few hours that of Deborah Bergamini has also been circulated. The situation – underlined in circles close to Tajani – remains frozen pending the face-to-face meeting with the Knight’s daughter to try to find a common way to manage the party’s political choices. The avalanche however, they always reason within Forza Italia, may not stop only at the group leader. Among the rumors there would also be the idea of ​​replacing Raffele Nevi as spokesperson for Fi.