Renzi bemoans return of 'First Republic'

(ANSA) - Rome, July 21 - Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi complained that a way of doing politics similar to the First Republic, the term used for Italy's post-war political establishment that collapsed amid scandals in the early 1990s, had returned after he quit as premier in December.
    Renzi resigned after almost three years at the helm of government when his flagship Constitutional reform was rejected in a referendum.
    He was re-elected as leader of the centre-left PD earlier this year and set to run to get his old job back in elections early next year. "There is (still) the need to change Italian politics, despite the referendum defeat, which obviously hurts a lot," Renzi told Lady Radio.
    "You saw what happened from the following day. I resigned and I went home.
    "But in the end, the political debate is still there. The parties and the First Republic have returned. The model of the past has returned". He added that he intended to "continue to lower taxes, because we made a start but you can't really see it".