Who whispers to Conte and what Zingaretti says about Bettini
Moods and discontent in the government and in the Democratic Party on Conte and beyond
“Crowded”: this is how the late lady Diana in November 1995 defined with bitter irony her marriage to Prince Charles of England in a television interview. To "crowd" Diana's family was Camilla, the lover of Carlo.
WHAT RENZI COMBINES AND WHAT MATTARELLA DOES
"Crowded" could also be defined as the government verification too late and too unwillingly accepted by the Prime Minister, and for too long in progress between penultimatum and postponements of the announced, threatened, promises – as you prefer – resignations of the two ministers of Matteo Renzi. That Mattarella behind the scenes is trying to hold back until the plan for the use of European recovery funds is approved by Parliament.
THE TEMPTATIONS TO COUNT
But then their resignation would really force Giuseppe Conte to make a decision: to resign and officially open the crisis, with all the necessary rites and risks, or to try to imitate Giulio Andreotti. Which in 1990 – as Il Fatto Quotidiano pro-Contiano reminded us today – replaced five dissident Christian Democrat ministers, including Sergio Mattarella, and with the consent of the then head of state Francesco Cossiga continued on his path.
DIMISSIONARY GOVERNMENT?
However, the situation at the time was quite different. The resigned had a DC behind them that left them isolated. Now without the Renzians Conte would have to change majority by replacing them in the Senate with scattered parliamentarians from the opposition: “responsible” for at least one attempt to save Conte at Palazzo Chigi.
THE COUNTY WHISPS OF BETTINI
But who would crowd this interminable and increasingly botched government audit? At least two people, who whisper more or less in the ear of the Prime Minister. One is Massimo D'Alema, according to whom Conte is the most popular man in Italy and Renzi the most unpopular. The other is Goffredo Bettini , from Marche of aristocratic origins, 68 years old on 5 November, who entered the chronicles of the verification with almost daily interviews – the latest is today at Corriere della Sera – aimed at addressing his party, the Pd , despite being only one of the 217 members of the national management.
WHAT BETTINI SAYS
He was even promoted as mediator by Renzi, who revealed that he had sent him tickets, letters, notes and so on, perhaps making who knows what and how many phone calls, to try to move away from entanglement, ambiguity and anything else not only or not so much secretary of the Democratic Party as much as Count himself. Of which he would therefore become the main advisor and one of the most adoring ones, given that he does not miss an opportunity, such as that of today on Corriere , to sing the praises of the Prime Minister and describe in gloomy colors any scenario that does not yet contemplate him at Chigi Palace.
ZINAGRETTI'S DEMOCRAT SURROUNDINGS
This Bettini, now settled in Italy after years of long stays in Thailand, seems to be starting to annoy or worry even his party secretary Nicola Zingaretti. To which Augusto Minzolini in the newspaper of the Berlusconi family attributed this undeniable comment: "They all go to Bettini and I don't understand why, since he has no office in the party". Minzolini also attributed to Bettini a nickname that he would have earned in Roman dialect in the Democratic Party: “Er monaco”, we hope without allusions to Rasputin, who had a bad end, to say the least, not to mention the Tsar's court he had frequented.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/chi-sussurra-a-conte-e-cosa-dice-zingaretti-di-bettini/ on Mon, 11 Jan 2021 06:24:21 +0000.