Pisicchio: «Rebuilding the center: no nostalgia but it's time to work for a higher plan»

It held Italy in its hands from 1946 to 1993 and then lost itself under the blows of justice and the pickaxes that were tearing down the Wall. It has passed into the liquid state of the "tributaries" and into the gaseous state of a nebula that is there but cannot be grasped. In fact, the (political) Center has always been there, in the hostile thoughts of its adversaries and in the honeyed ones of the evokers. As well as at the ballot boxes. A true obsession, The obsession of the center (Rubbettino, pp. 114, euro 12), precisely, as the title of the new volume by the jurist and former deputy from Bari Pino Pisicchio. A lively but dense text that leaves the disabling myth of the DC in the background and relaunches the challenge today.

Pisicchio, but does the center still exist?

"Judging by the election results from 1994 to today, counting all the dust from the right and the left, I would say yes. It always weighs 17-18%, which is certainly not a small amount. And then we look at Europe: Macron with Prime Minister Bayrou, Starmer and Merz, in fact, are all centrists. Nicusor Dan, the winner of the recent elections in Romania, is also centrist."

So why doesn't "centrism" take hold in Italy too?

"There are various reasons that conspire against the center, starting with the unbreathable general climate of Italian politics. The end of the party form weighs, first of all, with the advent of a Caesarism that encourages the continuous delegitimization of the adversary. And then there is the issue of the electoral systems, more or less recent, that are always functional to leadership."

We need to understand what the objective is: a single center or two distinct centers embedded in opposing sides?

"It is difficult to think that in Italy a unique subjectivity cannot be born. But if we cannot create a center, let's at least create two."

Let's get to the point. Forza Italia?

«Today it is the centre of the centre-right but in perspective I am very interested in the positions of Marina Berlusconi who, thinking about the issue of rights, has often moved in contrast with the opinions of her allies».

In Milan, Forza Italia has begun a dialogue with Carlo Calenda's Azione. A draft of the center?

"On the left, Calenda, Renzi and Bonino have not been able to practice the path of unity, with devastating effects in the European elections: they could have taken 7%, they did not even bring a single MEP to Brussels. A disaster. But it is natural that there is evidence of dialogue between the cultures that frequent the same "middle ground". The important thing is not to be influenced by useless personalisms but to work for a higher plan. In short, what is missing is a vision".

And the Church in all this? The times of the Italian Popes who took charge of our domestic affairs are long gone...

"The Church began not to actively participate in political disputes already at the end of the Sixties. And that's right, it would be unthinkable otherwise. But for some time now a new energy has been in motion. There is a strong impulse. I am thinking of the positions of the CEI on immigration and differentiated autonomy. As well as the strong criticism brought by Don Ciccio Savino to the premiership. We are talking about concrete politics, not vague principles".

If the center returned, what would be the first battle?

"Change the electoral law, first of all. And then, as a pro-European force, it should push the EU to create a continental over the top so as not to be dominated by other players in the great challenge posed by digital technologies and artificial intelligence".