Tajani and the B. brothers. The meeting in the company, the trust and the line of openness towards new faces in FI

Antonio Tajani was received by Marina and Piersilvio Berlusconi in Cologno Monzese, that is, at the company and not, as previously, at the home of the daughter of the former prime minister and founder of Forza Italia. This meeting, which Foreign Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Forza Italia Secretary Antonio Tajani described as a sort of chat "among friends" where "we discussed everything," was attended by former Undersecretary to the Prime Minister Gianni Letta and Danilo Pellegrino, CEO of Fininvest (the company, then). Expert observers of the Berlusconi movement and its symbolism yesterday placed the meeting among discussions different from those that took place in Arcore during Berlusconi's time and, indeed, at Marina's home during her time. It was also different from all those that, unlike this occasion, were not attended by Piersilvio—who had expressed some criticism of FI on the sidelines of the Mediaset schedule presentation no later than twenty days ago. And his words back then—"We need to look ahead: Tajani is excellent, Dalla Chiesa is excellent, Gasparri is excellent... But we also need more, in terms of openness, a vision of the future"—had been, within the party, the unwelcome guests in every internal debate prior to yesterday's meeting, especially since Piersilvio hadn't "ruled out" a possible, albeit distant, future in politics. But yesterday's meeting revealed a shared line of support for the party, so much so, and also a downgrading of Piersilvio's "I don't rule it out" to political fantasy, at least for now. Yet, somehow, we also learned that the Berlusconi brothers, while reiterating their support for Tajani and the political figure who had characterized their father's life and work for thirty years—a sort of legacy in a moderate liberal vein—now also hope to launch a program of renewal and openness, and perhaps enrich the party with new figures (without naming names, although, after the meeting, some questions were being asked between Parliament and the party about possible identikits). And in short, the pre-election anxiety was channeled into the declared pursuit of a family-party alignment, with Marina and Piersilvio's unwavering commitment, but against the now indelible backdrop of the windows wide open to the outside world. So, move forward. But with what vision, to use Piersilvio's words? The fact is that, that morning, in an interview with Libero, Tajani, who apparently learned ex post of the resignation (with a desire to run again) of the president of the Calabria Region, Roberto Occhiuto, had announced the imminent release of a "new manifesto of freedom," which, it appears, was already known to the Berlusconi brothers prior to the announcement: "In September," Tajani said in Libero, "we will present the new 'manifesto of freedom,' updating the one from 1994. We are working on it; our coordination team is led by Andrea Orsini, who was a kind of ghostwriter for Berlusconi. We will work on the texts of Paolo Del Debbio, and we will listen to the economic sectors. The 'manifesto of freedom,' of economic freedom, serves to give FI a strong identity and differentiate it from the League and Brothers of Italy. The more plural the center-right, the more support it attracts." The aim is to "gain—in addition to the votes of those who believe in a liberal economy, the fight against taxation, and the fight for guarantees—the support of those centrists disillusioned with the center-left. Why can't voters who belong to that camp have a point of reference? Maybe they didn't like the right, but if the center-right remains center-right, we can attract that support and grow the coalition." And while Tajani, as Foreign Minister, reiterated Italy's commitment to airdrops of humanitarian aid to Gaza, Tajani, who had just left Cologno Monzese, was expected, within the party, to face the test of facts, namely the issues that needed to be addressed to bring FI to the level of its true capacity to make an impact, especially on jobs and citizenship.

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