He twice led the center-left to victory against the superpower of Silvio Berlusconi, bringing together forces that struggled to get along with each other. Now, from PD Forum on Europe – in progress while a few kilometers away FdI is celebrating with Atreju – Romano Prodi gives the secretary a push Elly Schlein for the role of leader of a future opposition alliance. «Every moment you have your federation – says the professor – and I believe that you could very well be». A load of forty on a debate that weighs the balance of power in the opposition, especially between Pd and M5sand within the Democratic Party itself: in the Catholic area some reservations about the secretary’s potential aggregator have already emerged, with a look at the former prime minister Paolo Gentiloni.
Prodi’s criticisms of the Democratic Party and his idea for the centre-left
However, Prodi, founder of the Ulivo, also comes with a harsh criticism of the Democratic Party: «Populism is the refuge of a people who cannot find a home in a party and many have no longer found it in the Democratic Party», for this reason «in 15 years it lost 6 million voters. But it remains the only political party with strong European roots.” For the professor, in the centre-left the axis of the problem lies not so much in the search for a federator, but in the desire of the opposition forces “to become federated”. Why Iv and Action are the most reluctant, but also in the M5s there is no enthusiasm.
Schlein and his vision for the future of the Democratic Party
Schlein takes the opportunity to highlight his role: «We will always work with generosity and responsibility to mature alliances and convergences – he states at the party assembly – At the same time, however, we have demonstrated how no alternative exists without the Democratic Party, the essential pivot of any alternative project for Italy”. The PD Forum he was not anti-Atreju, but the long-distance confrontation was not lacking. «I have never been there – observes Prodi -. But perhaps once upon a time you could even go there, but not today. When you call Musk or Vox, that means you live in a different world, stay in the different world.” Schlein relaunches: «I don’t share the stage with those nostalgic for Francoism and fascism», he said, but «not only have we not avoided the comparison» with Giorgia Meloni“but I asked for it several times, not in her house or ours, but in a television, non-television place… I’m not afraid of any confrontation with her about anything.”
Prodi’s indications for the European lists
Clear indications on the lists for the elections reach Schlein from Prodi European. “The Democratic Party must not use the nominations as a consolation prize, which is legitimate, but as the construction of a ruling class that slowly becomes leaders in the European context.” A criticism that Schlein takes up, warning the currents: we need «open lists that aim to represent society. Let’s open up and not be satisfied with ourselves, let’s not live them as a consolation prize, an instrument of revenge or internal counting, if there are currents. Let’s try to bring in the freshest and most sensible forces and mix them with the best skills that we can express as a party.”
The return of Enrico Letta and his warning
The Forum is also the opportunity for the “return” in public of Enrico Letta at a Democratic Party event. From the former secretary, a warning: «We must avoid looking at the next European elections as a survey with respect to the next policies, from a domestic perspective».