Left-wing dissenters within
Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) took pains Monday
to distance themselves from the possibility of splitting away
from the ruling center-left party.
Renzi launched a stinging attack on the dissenters after
several took part in a massive rally in Rome organised by the
left-wing CGIL trade union federation, which has historic ties
with the PD but is against the government's Jobs Act labour
reform.
The Jobs Act would soften the rules on unfair dismissal to
encourage firms to take on staff, which labor says is just
another way to scale back workers' rights without creating jobs.
Renzi won a Senate confidence vote on the bill earlier in
October.
"I want to fight my battle from within the PD rather than
forming a small, splinter extreme-left party," said Lower House
MP Cesare Damiano, a former labor minister during the Romano
Prodi government of 2006-2008.
"I won't vote for the Jobs Act in a confidence vote, but
I'm not leaving the PD," said Lower House MP Stefano Fassina,
who was junior economy minister during the preceding,
short-lived administration of fellow PD member Enrico Letta.
"Given that the premier is systematically seeking out a
head-on collision, I believe (he is looking) for an incident to
justify snap elections".
Fassina was echoed by Pippo Civati, who came in third
against Renzi in the 2013 PD primaries for party secretary and
candidate to the premiership.
"Renzi is steering us to (another general election)
otherwise he would not have engaged in a duel on such a scale
with his own party," Civati told La Repubblica newspaper, adding
that he is still on the fence about whether or not to leave the
PD.
"I will decide in the coming weeks," he said.
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