Ex-premier and former Democratic
Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi was set Friday to kick off his PD
leadership campaign with a major event at Turin's ex-Fiat
Lingotto conference centre.
The slogan for the campaign is "starting again together".
The event aims to start mapping out a wide-ranging platform
ranging from tax policy to relations with the EU on migrants,
the budget and other key issues.
The platform will then be completed by meetings across Italy,
Renzi has said.
PD caretaker leader Matteo Orfini said Renzi had tried to get
Italy moving again and now found himself the target of a "very
violent media offensive" linked to his father Tiziano's
involvement in a graft probe.
Renzi quit as premier after heavily losing a referendum on
his flagship Constitutional reform in December, a reform on
which he had staked his political future.
He stepped down as PD leader last month to trigger a party
congress and leadership battle, prompting leftwing dissenters to
split and form their own party, the Democratic and Progressive
Movement (MDP).
Renzi's two opponents for the PD leadership are Justice
Minister Andrea Orlando and Puglia Governor Michele Emiliano,
both PD heavyweights.
Orlando has said he will step down as minister if he wins the
contest, while both he and Emiliano have said they will try to
reunite the splintered centre left.
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