Former minister, secretary, São Paulo councilor and ambassador, Andrea Matarazzo (PSD) launched itself as a candidate this week, but not in Brazil: the politician will try to be elected to the Italian Senate from the South American constituency.
The European country's legislation dedicates three seats in Congress to Italians who live on the continent — two deputies and one senator, elected by the local community. There, the election was brought forward to September with the dissolution of Parliament following the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
People of Italian descent can vote or run for office as long as they have citizenship, which is recognized regardless of generation. Matarazzo's grandfather was born in Italy.
À Sheet He says he is upset with the political climate in Brazil and focused on "showing Rome the importance of Italian-Brazilians." Having lost recent elections in Brazil—leaving the PSDB in 2016 amidst the São Paulo primaries and joining the PSD, where he failed to win the vice-mayoral election that year and the mayoralty in 2020—he will be a candidate in Italy for the Socialist Party. The far-right is the favorite in the election.
What made you choose to trade the turbulent Brazilian politics for the chaotic Italian politics? Is Rome more peaceful than Brasília?
I would say it is different. The Italian community in Brazil insisted that it was an important moment for my candidacy. We need to show the Italian Congress the quality of our representation.
Italians abroad are as Italian as anyone else, but they still don't have that feeling, because many are fourth or fifth generation descendants.
Have you ever thought about applying in Brazil this year?
No. I decided to take some time, to refresh myself and analyze the scenarios. My type of speech is not for the current Brazilian moment.
Mr. He was leader of the opposition to Fernando Haddad (PT) in São Paulo. Today, he is running for the Italian Senate for the Socialist Party, affiliated with the center-left Democratic Party and a sympathizer of the PT and former president Lula.
I looked for a party that had a good structure in South America – and the PD has a structure in Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay and Brazil. I also looked for subtitles that had alignments with which I was already affiliated. The PSI has that name but is the current Italian social democracy.
When mr. he was ambassador to Italy, the prime minister was Silvio Berlusconi. Since then he was convicted of corruption and lost his right to run for office. Now, he leads one of the favorite coalition parties in the elections.
Today Berlusconi He is one of the center-right wings, he has matured a lot. Italy had Matteo Salvini as prime minister [the politician was actually vice-premier and interior minister], who did very badly. Berlusconi played his role; made important reforms, but had its problems.
How do you see the possibility of a government led by ultra-rightist Giorgia Meloni?
Meloni It's from a different extreme right, which has flags that I don't identify with, such as anti-Europeanism. Regarding migration, I would need to be living in Italy to talk about regulations, but this issue needs to be considered. You can't be against immigration; These are radical guidelines for the current moment.
In Italy, Parliament is very balanced between the two wings and they are composed of each other, that is the big difference. The last government [of Prime Minister Mario Draghi] was balanced and positive.
What explains the loss of strength of traditional acronyms like PD?
Italian politics has been rebuilding itself with new leadership. The 5 Star Movement, for example, proved to be fragile and had no results. Today, society wants results more than ideology, but it is difficult to achieve this in the short term in a troubled and turbulent world.
Policy will have to adapt to these circumstances. The entire political and party system will need to be changed if it is not to be run over. But we can never give up on democracy and its improvement.
The Italian community in South America is generally represented in the Italian Congress by Argentines. How do you intend to beat them?
It is necessary to have a well-structured coalition, with a relationship with local society. A fundamental point is to show Italians who live in Brazil the importance of voting. There are things that can be done, for example, to facilitate the entry of young people into European universities. I also want to bring good public policies from Italy to Brazil, those linked to the elderly.
Today, there are 50 million Italians outside of Italy; That's almost the Italian population. I have an obligation to show them the importance of this community. The largest producer of oranges in the world is the grandson of an Italian [José Luis Cutrale], the largest producer of alcohol and sugar [Rubens Ometto] as well.
Brazilians of Italian descent complain about consulates taking too long to schedule citizenship processes.
Legislation needs to make life easier for consulates and give them the tools to better serve the public. Criticizing the consulate is pointless; it has the structure that the law allows.
In Brazil's election, who will support?
I see the election as very polarized. I wanted to see people discussing a project for the country. I'm very upset, Brazil and the world have several problems and we are arguing left and right. I'm thinking and discussing with Gilberto Kassab [president of the PSD], who knows things.
X-ray | Andrea Matarazzo, 65
A businessman, he was Minister of Communication in the FHC government and Brazilian ambassador to Italy between 2001 and 2002. Since then, he has been state and municipal secretary and councilor in São Paulo. He ran for mayor in 2020. Today, he is president of Matarazzo Holding and director of Fiesp.
Folha Agency
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