Elly Schlein has dissolved her reserve: she will run in the European elections as head of the list in the Central and Islands constituencies. But the move was rejected by Romano Prodi: «No one listens to me» – he said – asking for the vote and then not being an MEP causes «wounds to democracy that dig a ditch. This applies to Meloni, Schlein, Tajani and all the others.” The likely wide-field ally is also harsh: «For us in the M5s – said Giuseppe Conte – it is a mockery of the citizens. It is not a question of Schlein, but also of Meloni and the other leaders.”
Prodi’s attack
However, it was Prodi’s words that weighed most heavily in the house of the Democrats, as they landed in the midst of the PD leadership meeting to approve the lists for the European elections. At the Nazarene, the climate was already rather tense, due to the proposal of the party president Stefano Bonaccini to insert the name of the secretary in the symbol for the European elections. A hypothesis that has created divisions both in the majority of the Democratic Party and in the minority itself led by Bonaccini. So much so that the decision was postponed. Without any particular shocks, however, the green light was given to the candidates: the leaders are Schlein in the Center and in the Islands, the daughter of the founder of Emergency Cecilia Strada in the North West, Bonaccini in the North East and the journalist Lucia Annunziata in the South. Among the candidates, the former director of Avvenire Marco Tarquinio, the former sardine Jasmine Cristallo, the mayors Giorgio Gori, Dario Nardella, Matteo Ricci and Antonio Decaro, the first signatory of the law against homophobia, Alessandro Zan, who is running in multiple constituencies, the former secretary Nicola Zingaretti, the journalist Sandro Ruotolo.
The divisions on the name in the symbol
In management, the thorny issue was that of the secretary’s name in the symbol. “I’m not of the opinion that a leaderist party model can work,” said Peppe Provenzano, who supported Schlein at the congress. Among the minorities, critic Gianni Cuperlo: «An unnecessary choice». Several exponents of Popular Energy, Bonaccini’s area, are also against it. Their interventions were also read by many as an expression of a growing controversy towards the president’s internal leadership. The name in the symbol “is a proposal that splits the party”, said Annamaria Furlan. In defense of Schlein, the group leader in the Senate, Francesco Boccia: “I think that the name of the secretary in the symbol serves to confront Giorgia Meloni and to guarantee that added value that everyone recognizes” in Schlein. The secretary’s candidacy has fueled another chapter of controversy with the M5S. Running “to acquire a few more votes is unthinkable for us – said Conte – I will not be a candidate and my name will not be mentioned. it will be in the symbol.” Schlein’s indirect response came in the replies in the direction: “My candidacy is at the party’s disposal” also because “if there is one person who resents the personalization of politics, it is me.” , a warning: «This obstinacy in placing ourselves at the service of a higher perspective» to create the alternative to the right «is not turning the other cheek, it is not do-goodism». of the Democratic Party that we want – added the leader – an open party that allows itself to be permeated by the best energies of society and that claims the competence of its administrators, managers and militants. A plural list.” But the question of the name in the symbol remains open. And time is running out, given that the management was held on the eve of the deadline for depositing the stamps. In postponing the decision, the party gave “a mandate to the secretariat to verify the conditions so that it can make the maximum contribution” to the result at the polls. A formula which – alternatively – could open up the hypothesis of a Schlein race in other constituencies too, perhaps in out of the way positions.
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