New centre-left opposition Democratic
Party leader Elly Scheln said after being proclaimed secretary
Sunday that the PD was "coming" and there would be a "new
spring" for the party that had been languishing since a poor
performance in the autumn general election.
"Those who had bet on the end of the PD lost their bet against
the PD, we are still here, stronger and united, and we are
coming. This will be a new spring for us," she told the PD
general assembly, taking place at the Nuvola conference centre
in Rome.
Schelin said the Meloni government was giving "wrong answers" to
Italy's problems and "we are different".
She said the PD was on "on the side of the Italy that struggles,
that works hard".
The party also has common ground with other opposition parties
starting with the populist 5-Star Movement (M5S) and other,
farther left small parties, she said.
"We must seek to dialogue with the other opposition forces,
there is common ground, we have a responsibility to explore that
together, we must start from here," she said.
The centrist third pole of centrist opposition parties has thus
far said Schelin is too extreme for them to work with her PD.
Only if the PD, the M5S and the third pole team up will they
have a chance of beating the rightwing bloc of Premier Giorgia
Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI), Deputy Premier Matteo
Salvini's League, and ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's
centre-right Forza Italia (FI) in the next election, currently
slated for four and a half years from now.
Schelin stressed that the faction-ridden PD had to put an end
once and for all to internecine strife.
"We need to take care of the human relationship even before the
political one. We need to put an end once and for all to the
internal conflicts that rob us of precious energy, to build
instead an alternative to the right-wingers who govern this
country," she said.
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