After the election defeat, the head of the Italian Social Democrats (PD – Partito Democratico) Enrico Letta announced his resignation as party leader. He will lead his party until the party congress in the spring. After that, he will no longer run to the top post, Letta said at a press conference in Rome on Monday.
Letta, who was head of government between 2013 and 2014, has led the center-left party since 2021. In the election, the PD came in second with about 19 percent, behind the post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia.
“Italy will not leave the EU”
The Social Democrats want to ensure that Italy remains on a pro-European course despite a right-wing government, Letta said. “The PD will not allow Italy to leave the heart of Europe and distance itself from European values,” Letta said. “We will lead a tough and unyielding opposition. Today is a sad day for Italy and Europe,” Letta said.
Letta described the election results for his party as “unsatisfactory”. However, the Social Democrats are the second largest party in Italy and the largest opposition party.
Expert sees “epochal” effects
Italian political scientist Daniela Caterina assumes that the shift to the right in Italy will have “epochal effects”. Because the right-wing politician “Giorgia Meloni did not just win. Meloni won the parliamentary elections of September 25 across the board,” Caterina explains on Monday in a broadcast of the scientific network ‘Diskurs’. Italy will therefore not be governed by a center-right government, but by a right-wing government”.
European Commission hopes for ‘constructive cooperation’
The EU commission hopes for “constructive cooperation” with Italy’s future government. “The EU commission and the president are working with the governments elected in the member states, and that will be the case here too,” a spokesman for the EU authority in Brussels said on Monday. To see this “election as a judgment on Europe, I think is an extreme simplification of the situation”. No comment is made on the results of national elections.
After the victory of right-wing politician and hard-line EU critic Georgia Melonie, politicians fear an anti-European government in Italy. EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen had said in the run-up to the election: “If things develop in a difficult direction, we have tools as in the case of Poland and Hungary.”
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
