Maneuver, “miserable” and “miraculous”: this is how the Christmas spirit is celebrated in Parliament

The calendar sometimes plays tricks on you. And so it happens every twelve months that the period of greatest conflict in Parliament – the days of the Maneuver – coincides with the Christmas holidays. This year, then, there is still a risk that the House’s final vote on the device will take place in the late morning of Christmas Eve.

So, while the Italians will be busy hugging relatives they haven’t met for months or putting the baby in the crib, a debate will be held in Montecitorio in which, you can bet, deputies will not spare themselves attacks and casualties. We’ve already had a taste of what we’ll see in the last few days. Yesterday, to say it, resounded the “you are miserable” that Roberto Giachetti chanted to Grillini’s colleagues, guilty of having taken credit for a measure – the suspension of the wage reassessment of parliamentarians – that has been voted unanimously without interruption since 2006 Since when, that is, the Movement was not even an idea in the minds of Grillo and Casaleggio.

“If a custom is opened here regarding foul language, if you allow yourself to call a parliamentary group miserable, we tell each other and I adjust,” replied the leader of the pentastellato group, Francesco Silvestri, angrily. Forgotten, to tell you the truth, because the grillini certainly didn’t introduce foul language into the Chamber but… let’s put it that way… they made quite extensive and creative use of it. Just think of the mythological Massimo De Rosa, who some time ago addressed his Pd and Forza Italia colleagues, addressing them as follows: “You’re only here because you’re good at being p…”. And we understand each other. A few hours earlier it had been the turn of Luca Ciriani, Minister for Relations with Parliament. Stormy relations, in this case, since in the face of Renziano Luigi Marattin’s protests over the uneven process of the Maneuver, the minister pulled the claws: “But where are you going, you are a miracle worker!”. Marattin, not usually inclined to turn the other cheek, this time maintained commendable self-control. And it was Carlo Calenda – and who, bosom? – to avenge him: «Ciriani? Anyone who insults an elected parliamentarian is a pacifier and presumptuous ». So, since Calenda and Renzi call themselves men, even the former mayor of Florence saw fit to join the insult fair, defining the president of the Cultural Commission Federico Mollicone a “man without dignity”. Mollicone, to be honest, had already invited Renzi to see a psychologist “to cure his narcissism”. And since Italia Viva is an armed phalanx ready to act like a turtle for the leader, Senator Raffaella Paita had already intervened to order the Melonian deputy to “deal only with Peppa Pig”.

The exchange, to put it in context, was due to the abolition of the culture bonus that Renzi intended at eighteen. And it can be said that money is needed, God forbid, but perhaps it is also useful for young people to set a good example. Then it happened to open “Corriere” and find an interview with the undersecretary of the MEF, Federico Freni: “With the opposition – he says – there was a healthy and balanced dialectic, with mutual respect for the different positions”.

And the insults? “Each plays his part in the comedy.” In short: in public we talk about each other, but in private it’s all a wish. Which, if you think about it, is the plastic demonstration of how far Parliament is from real life. Because at Christmas, in families, the opposite happens. We hugged, joked, joked, but deep down we hated each other. And you will understand, of the two hypocrisies, which is the worst.