Former minister, secretary, councilor from São Paulo and ambassador, Andrea Matarazzo (PSD) launched himself as a candidate this week, but not in Brazil: the politician will try to be elected to the Italian Senate for the South American constituency.
The legislation of the European country dedicates three seats of the Congress to Italians who live on the continent – two deputies and a senator, elected by the local community. There, the election was brought forward to September with the dissolution of Parliament after the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
Descendants of Italian can vote or apply as long as they have citizenship, recognized regardless of generation. Matarazzo’s grandfather was born in Italy.
THE Sheet he says he is upset with the political moment in Brazil and focused on “showing Roma the importance of Italian-Brazilians”. Defeated in the last elections in Brazil – he left the PSDB in 2016 in the midst of the São Paulo elections and migrated to the PSD, for which he was not elected vice mayor that year or mayor in 2020 –, he will be a candidate in Italy for the Socialist Party. The far right is favored in the election.
What did mr. allow the troubled Brazilian politics to be exchanged for the chaotic Italian politics? Is Rome quieter than Brasilia? I would say it’s different. The Italian community in Brazil insisted that it was an important moment for my candidacy. It is necessary 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 thought about applying in Brazil this year? Not. I decided to take some time, even to retrain 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, allied to the Center-Left Democratic Party and sympathetic to 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 alignment to which I was already affiliated. The PSI has that name but is the current Italian Social Democracy.
When mr. was ambassador to Italy, the prime minister was Silvio Berlusconi. Since then he was convicted of corruption, he even lost the right to run. Now he leads one of the favorite coalition parties in the elections. Today Berlusconi is one of the centre-right wingers, he has matured a lot. Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Salvini [o político na verdade foi vice-premiê e ministro do Interior], which was very bad. Berlusconi played a role; It made important renovations, but it had its problems.
How do you see the possibility of a government by the ultra-right Giorgia Meloni? Meloni is from a different extreme right, which has flags that I don’t identify with, such as anti-Europeanism. About migration, I would need to be living in Italy to talk about the regulation, but this issue needs to be measured. You cannot be against immigration; are radical guidelines for the current moment.
In Italy, Parliament is very balanced between the two wings and they are composed, this is the big difference. the last government [do premiê Mario Draghi] it 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, without results. Today, society wants results more than ideology, but it is difficult to have that in the short term in a troubled and turbulent world.
The policy will have to adapt to these circumstances. The entire political and party system will need to be changed if it doesn’t want to be run over. But we can never give up democracy and its improvement.
The Italian community in South America is usually 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 the 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 make it easier for young people to enter European universities. I also want to bring to Brazil good public policies from Italy, those related to the elderly.
Today, there are 50 million Italians outside Italy; is almost the Italian population. I have an obligation to show them the importance of this community. The world’s largest orange producer is the grandson of an Italian [José Luis Cutrale]the highest of alcohol and sugar [Rubens Ometto] also.
Brazilians of Italian descent complain about the delay of consulates in scheduling processes to obtain citizenship. The legislation needs to make life easier for consulates and give them tools to better serve the population. It’s no use criticizing the consulate; it has the structure that the law allows.
In the Brazilian election, who will support? I see the election very polarized. I wanted to see people discussing a project for the country. I’m very upset, Brazil and the world have a lot of problems and we’re discussing left and right. I’m thinking and discussing with Gilberto Kassab [presidente do PSD]who is the one who knows things.
X-ray | Andrea Matarazzo, 65
Entrepreneur, 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 of São Paulo. He ran for mayor in 2020. Today, he is president of Matarazzo Holding and director of Fiesp.
