Massimo D'Alema Quotes

Nichi Vendola can mobilize an electorate that remained on the sidelines in the last elections, but I don't think he can be a viable leader to mobilize a center-left coalition: I wouldn't vote for him.

The center-right did not lose the elections because of its harsh rhetoric. This is a self-consoling argument: Berlusconi has always used harsh rhetoric, being a populist extremist.

In questo mondo che cambia, l'Europa dovrebbe farsi portatrice di una nuova visione atlantica. [...] Ma oggi la politica atlantica tradizionale è diventata debole: può tornare a diventare forte se diventa una politica di tutto l'Atlantico, e non soltanto del Nord Atlantico. Perché una politica di tutto l'Atlantico comprende l'America latina e comprende l'Africa. E cioè sarebbe da parte europea una grande apertura verso i continenti che vengono avanti come nuovi possibili protagonisti. Dobbiamo controbilanciare il secolo asiatico e il rischio che l'epicentro della crescita mondiale si sposti nel Pacifico [...]

Erdogan is bombing our values, not just the Kurds. [...] The authority of the great democracies and the Western world is at stake. And unfortunately, we cannot count on the Americans, who are in the hands of a leadership whose credibility is now close to zero. This increases the responsibility of Europeans.

We must bring politics back to Europe. [...] This separation between democratic politics and decision-making is the tragedy of Europe. [...] Grand narratives also need to become decisions. If, on the other hand, real power is entrusted to technocracies and politics becomes an empty exercise, I believe that democracy is at risk. [...] The real problem is this: it is not about getting rid of politics, but about politics reclaiming its function, which is to guide social processes and change people's lives.

Italian newspapers are not so much harmful as they are irrelevant. [...] The comparison with foreign newspapers is humiliating. They deal with serious issues, while here we only print nonsense. [...] I find this kind of journalism repugnant.

Berlusconi has an easy game, because we are coming out of a period of political vacuum.

I sincerely find it in poor taste to have held this meeting in Teano. The idea of transforming a page of our country's history into a staged event with Maroni in the place of Garibaldi or Victor Emmanuel is an offense to our country.

(About the passages about the Rotkopf company's planes) As for the flights, it is absurd to say that I could have paid for a scheduled flight. As a member of parliament, I do not pay for scheduled flights. If I took a ride to attend three rallies instead of one, the savings were for the taxpayers, not me. We used these flights for work reasons because one of our colleagues told us that this option was available. If I had known what had come to light, I would certainly have gone on foot.

(About Berlusconi) The fall of his leadership worries me, it could block the process of building a democracy of alternation in Italy. (May 31, 1996)

Non esiste da noi una destra liberale. È sempre stata corporativa e statalista, e il berlusconismo non ha fatto eccezione.

Those who steal should be put in jail. Unfortunately, this cannot be done because the majority generally protects them. This is the real scandal that newspapers should be reporting on, but they don't, because they are complicit.

Il centrodestra non ha perso le elezioni per i toni duri scelti. È una tesi autoconsolatoria: Berlusconi ha sempre usato toni pesanti, essendo un estremista populista.

A me non importa se Berlusconi vuole l'accordo sulle riforme per interesse personale.

Quella generazione [del 1968] ha vissuto un'esperienza straordinaria, formativa. Le generazioni politiche non sono soltanto scandite dal trascorrere del tempo, che in fondo è un fatto banale. Sono segnate da eventi che ne caratterizzano la formazione. Direi che la grande generazione politica prima di noi era quella della Resistenza [...] non a caso che è rimasta al comando per tantissimi anni, perché aveva vissuto questa straordinaria esperienza storica.