There is a perverse mechanism that unfortunately characterizes this country. It does not only belong to the ruling class, but also to a certain type of public opinion inclined to divide between Guelphs and Ghibellines, even when this is not the case. The photograph is a reaction to the defeat of Rome’s bid for Expo. We came in third place, after petrodollars from Riyadh (119 votes) and technodollars from the Korean city of Busan (29 preferences). We only collected 17 votes. Well, instead of addressing the reasons for a defeat, everyone began to accuse our institutions (from the government to the municipality of Rome) of the burning humiliation. Instead, serious reflection should start from the observation that our country, once again, is incapable of creating a system. In certain objectives of international importance, the game must be played by everyone wearing the national jersey. Everyone should keep the general interest of the country in mind, beyond rhetoric. And maybe the next day, don’t hold the failure against yourself, but ask yourself why.
And the first of the “whys” is that the challenge for Expo, unfortunately, has always been disputed internally. The former mayor of Rome, Grillina Raggi, brought this up to make us forget during the election campaign for the Capitol the bad parade of a few years earlier, when, to give vent to populism, the 5 stars removed Rome from the race to organize the Olympics . Therefore, a candidacy that was created to erase a mistake and as an electoral expedient no longer starts off on the right foot. The then Prime Minister Draghi managed to share the objective with all the candidates for City Council at the time (Gualtieri, Raggi, Michetti and Calenda). Then there was a change of government and Meloni inherited the dossier: therefore the management of the candidacy race had many fathers and mothers, a fact that, obviously, created problems of management continuity.
Above all, there was a lack of initiative from all souls in the country in relation to Brussels to transform the Rome hypothesis into a European proposal. The most irritating fact about yesterday’s vote is that the Italian candidacy did not even count on the votes of all 27 EU countries. But even if Europe manages to take a united stance on an Expo bid, we really have to ask ourselves what unity we are talking about. Even more so because the first country to break the European front was France, which unilaterally allied itself with Riyadh. Some claim that Macron’s attitude was determined by the bad relations he had with Meloni at the time. But even if such a version were founded, it is clear that all Italian parties would have to exert pressure on the Élysée to remind it of a minimum of European solidarity. Instead, nothing: Rome’s candidacy proceeded by inertia, without any national momentum or mobilization. As if it were everyone’s candidacy and no one’s. In fact, if we think about it, it would be enough for an entire country to apply.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
