New center-left party will be born under adverse circumstances

On Sunday,
October 14^th primaries will be held for the election of the leader
of the new Democratic Party which is going to be by far the biggest party in
the current government. The merger between the Democrats of the Left and the
Margherita party has been prepared for several months and it is widely expected
that Walter Veltroni, mayor of Rome,
will easily win the primaries as his candidacy has been endorsed by the
leadership circles of the two vanishing parties.

This does
not mean that Veltroni’s role as the clear frontrunner has been left
uncriticized within the center-left. Rosa Bindy, minister for family affairs in
the Prodi government and a distant runner-up in the race for the presidency of
the Democratic Party, has vehemently attacked the way leading figures of the
Democrats of the Left have tried “coronate” Veltroni and present his victory in
the primaries as a foregone conclusion. Bindy’s campaign portrays the choice
for Veltroni as a continuation of elitist party politics and a lost chance to
revitalize the center-left and the country. She also seeks to emphasise that it
is a time for a woman to climb to the highest levels of national politics. Her
efforts will most probably not be enough for a victory on Sunday but the
attacks on Veltroni may result in his authority as new party leader being
somewhat compromised. In particular, her insinuation that Veltroni’s supporters
may resort to electoral fraught during the primaries has poisoned the contest
between the two.

More
conspicuous still are the uncertainties within the current coalition of what
Veltroni’s victory will mean for the work of the government. Romano Prodi has
welcomed the creation of the Democratic Party as a way of defeating the
anti-politics movement that is advancing in Italy
at the moment and he therefore sees in the new party a means to defend
democracy in Italy.
He also declares that it will “make Italy stronger, more just and more
cohesive”. But in reality there are many observers who see the co-existence of
Prodi as prime minister and Veltroni as leader of the center-left as a possible
burden for the functioning of the coalition. Dissent between Veltroni and the
government has already emerged as the mayor of Rome tries to capitalize on public
dissatisfaction with two much-discussed policy areas. One regards the need to
cut down on the administrative costs caused by the present political system. Veltroni
raised the issue of reducing the number of cabinet ministers and was promptly
told by Prodi that this is not an area for him to comment upon. The other topic
on which Veltroni attempted to put forward a highly popular proposal regarded
fiscal reform as he joined the chorus of the great majority of Italians who
demand tax cuts. In response to Veltroni the finance minister in Prodi’s
cabinet, Tommaso Padoa Schioppa, made the ironic remark that taxes are
“beautiful”.

In his
current position as mayor of Rome,
Veltroni may make such attempts of capturing the public mood and challenge the
government. However, it is difficult to see how he can attack the government
and make ambitious policy proposals once he is elected as leader of the
Democratic Party as every criticism of Prodi will make the center-left look
weak and divided and will inevitably be interpreted as an attempt to reach for
the premiership himself. At the same time, it would not be wise for Veltroni to
be seen as a Prodi loyalist since the unpopularity of the government would then
also be reflected on him. One may expect an uneasy rivalry between the prime
minister and the new party leader to further weaken Prodi’s position without
allowing Veltroni to appear as a strong and independent alternative.