Puglia still in limbo: the Decaro-Emiliano feud continues, while Schlein awaits the candidate's nomination.

The date is September 5th: the Festa dell'Unità (Festival of Unity) opens in Bisceglie, Puglia. Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein is expected to attend. The nomination of the center-left candidate for the upcoming regional elections is essential. The candidate hasn't been announced yet.

The feud between outgoing governor Michele Emiliano and former Bari mayor Antonio Decaro is not resolved, nor is the infinitely less serious one between Decaro and AVS. The former mayor, now a member of the European Parliament, is ready to run and has victory in his pocket, but his condition is well known: neither of the two former governors, Emiliano and Vendola, must appear on the lists. Neither, however, is willing to back down. At least for now. Vendola will not do so. The attempt to dictate the rules in another party is unacceptable, and the two AVS leaders, Fratoianni and Bonelli, have reiterated this in no uncertain terms. Moreover, the veto on Vendola is a sham: Decaro only used it to avoid overemphasizing the real conflict, the one with Emiliano.

Yesterday, the Puglia regional secretariat of the Democratic Party met with the crisis with AVS on the agenda . A dinner between Decaro and Vendola will follow, and the outcome seems truly out of the question: Nichi will run without Decaro being too upset. The Emiliano issue is much more tangled, and it's no coincidence that yesterday's secretariat didn't address it at all. This sensitive issue is in the hands of the party leadership, namely Elly, and his plenipotentiary, Igor Taruffi. Schlein has already applied all the necessary pressure on Emiliano. Taruffi has translated it into a concrete offer: an immediate councilorship, a senatorial seat up for election. The viceroy has refused: as a councilor, he believes he would be in the hands of the regional president, the now arch-enemy Decaro. Accustomed as he is to exercising very concrete power in his region, he has no use for a Senate seat.

The card played by the Nazareno is the coming out of the closet of the minority leader, Bonaccini, now a shadow ally of the secretary. In a sumptuous interview, he urged Emiliano, who is more or less part of the same minority, to step aside: "A new era with new protagonists: there's nothing wrong with that." Bonaccini's push could have the desired effect; the Nazareno is more than optimistic. The problem is that Emiliano has always acted much more like a free agent than a party or faction leader. Decaro's retreat is not out of the question either. He currently chairs the European Parliament's Environment Committee, a prominent position, and, more importantly, he is the future leader of the minority. His ambition to run against the secretary is no secret. But for the minority, attempting such a move would be suicidal. Until the next elections, Elly is safe, after which it will depend on the outcome of the polls. Therefore, for Decaro, the post of president of Puglia is truly highly coveted.

In such a context, a resolution to the situation, one way or another, should be guaranteed, and indeed the Democratic Party leadership believes so. The weak point is that the problem is now only partly political. So much personal rivalry has built up, so much animosity has mounted between the two—once very close—that a surprise outcome is even possible: Decaro's resignation. In that case, the Democratic Party would reluctantly fall back on Regional Council President Loredana Capone or Health Councilor Raffaele Piemontese to face the most likely of the center-right candidates: Deputy Justice Minister Francesco Paolo Sisto. But it's a possibility that the Democratic Party's upper echelons, for now, aren't even willing to consider.

The stalemate continues in Veneto: from the Lega Nord (FdI) there are signs of openness to the candidacy of a Lega Nord member to replace Doge Zaia, forced to settle for three terms already held. But these are timid and tentative signals. The prime minister has reportedly been persuaded to leave the Northern League's stronghold, but is waiting for the Zaia case to be resolved. Like Emiliano in Puglia, even more so than Emiliano in Puglia, Luca Zaia has no intention of leaving the Veneto scene: his main goal is the list with his name not only on the symbol, but also as the leader. It goes without saying that this option is not at all popular with his allies: it would take away elected officials and therefore money, and combined with the Lega Nord list itself, it would be very popular. But the reality is that if the Doge insists, there's no way to say no. The only way is to convince him, or more prosaically, entice him with a very tempting offer. But Giorgia doesn't have that position to offer Zaia to get his list withdrawn. Nor even in her mind.

FROM

David Romoli