Italia Viva, Azione MPs aim to reforge Italian centrist alliance.

4 months ago 21

Two MEPs from Italia Viva and Azione have called on their respective parties to revive the old centrist Third Pole alliance, though well-informed sources told Euractiv that their efforts are futile.

On Tuesday, Italia Viva and Azione deputies Luigi Marattin and Enrico Costa published a jointly signed appeal to rebuild the Third Pole, a political project aimed at uniting the two centrist parties, both part of the Renew Europe group, under a single list.

The project was dissolved in November 2023, and the two parties ran separately in the June elections. Neither party surpassed the 4% threshold, resulting in the Renew group having no Italian MEPs.

“The political position is clear: breaking up the Third Pole was a tragic mistake, and we must restart from there. This time without stopping,” Italia Viva MP Luigi Marattin told Euractiv.

“Enrico and I are expressing a precise political position that does not speak of names or personalities but of political perspective, and we would like to see how many, within and outside Italia Viva and Azione, are on the same wavelength,” he added.

The letter is designed to gauge public reaction and send a strong signal to the parties.

On the petition platform Change.org, they are gathering signatures from citizens who still believe in a political project based on “a single large liberal-democratic and reformist party” so that “we do not have to resign ourselves to the logic of bipolarism”.

The appeal comes a few weeks after Italia Viva secretary and former prime minister Matteo Renzi hinted at a congress in the autumn that a new “Third Pole with a third name at the helm” would be needed.

Among the names considered to lead such a political force is Marattin himself.

“The October congress was or is an eventuality announced by Matteo (Renzi), but only for Italia Viva. And if it happens, I will run with a platform that mirrors the appeal with Costa,” Marattin said.

For now, there are no openings from Azione or its leader, Carlo Calenda.

However, well-informed sources told Euractiv that many members are currently active in this regard, but Tuesday’s letter appears to be merely a “grand ceremonial gesture of a wait-and-see approach”.

The proposal focuses “solely on internal party dynamics” and is deemed “a futile effort because it doesn’t seem that the leadership, particularly Calenda’s, is willing to budge.”

Sources told Euractiv that the document is incomplete because it does not address the reasons for the Third Pole’s failure.

“We shouldn’t look back, that’s certain, but at least let’s move forward and understand how to change it. But even that is missing from the letter,” the sources added.

(Alessia Peretti | Euractiv.it)