Schlein to Meloni: "You have failed, go home: the sooner we vote, the better"

A clear message to Giorgia Meloni and her government: "You have failed, go home." And to her allies, a reminder: "The PD is the leading party, one does not equal one." These are some of the passages from Elly Schlein's speech during the PD leadership meeting. "This leadership meeting comes at a decisive moment for the PD, for the center-left, and for the country," she explains. "We face months that will decide the future of Italy and Europe. We have a duty to face them with a sense of responsibility and with that unity we have built together, which is our greatest strength." Schlein then attacks Giorgia Meloni: "In the face of fears, we must offer hope and protection. We must build the alternative to beat the right, which has failed. They celebrated the longest-serving government with wildly excessive fanfare, but stability, if it translates into immobility, does not serve the country well. One can stay long at Palazzo Chigi while the country stands still, as Giorgia Meloni has done." The PD secretary calls for elections as soon as possible: "They are afraid of losing because the new thing is us," she explains, "a united and competitive progressive alliance that can beat the right in the next elections. This is the new fact." And she recalls that "Istat has certified that Italy will not exit the European infringement procedure — the queen of austerity has failed at this too. And Meloni attacked Istat. The country has a fever and Meloni takes it out on the thermometer. The sooner we vote, the better for Italy." Schlein then addresses the Prime Minister directly: "Meloni asks me to tell her one true thing; I'll tell her ten. They said they would lower taxes — we are at a record tax burden for the last ten years; on birth rates, the right has made rhetoric but not policy; job insecurity hits women and young people above all... More taxes, more debt, cost of living through the roof, low wages, and no growth. This is their legacy." The Democratic leader also addresses the question of the coalition's program and leadership: "The program is written with the whole alliance, knowing full well that we must be inclusive, but that one does not equal one in that discussion. Because no one has given us anything; if we are firmly the leading party of the opposition, we earned it with sweat and commitment, by convincing people one by one, who handed us double the votes of the other forces, in the European, regional, and municipal elections. Generous, yes; naive, no." And she adds: "In any other European country, leadership goes to the party that gets one more vote — it is not hegemony, it is democracy. Then, if someone does not recognize this principle, we are available and ready for primaries, and we will win them together." Schlein then touches on various points to be included in the coalition's future program. From healthcare to the housing emergency, from foreign policy — "on Ukraine we will find a synthesis," she assures — to the regulation of artificial intelligence.