«Below 9 euros is exploitation. Me and Conte? Now I’m interested in giving the Party a clear identity»- Corriere.it

Elly Schlein across the board, from the appeal for Patrick Zaki to the minimum wage, from justice to the 2024 elections. Secretary, in the Democratic Party your opponents are considering sending her home if she does not exceed 20% in the European elections.

It’s clear to you, right?
«After the congress we brought the party back to being the first opposition force, firmly above 20% and we can regain the trust of many who had left. It seems to me a big leap forward, given that we were starting from 15%. We stand as candidates in the European elections to win them and we are the only political force that has never been ambiguous about the EU. I remember that when Giorgia Meloni founded her party years ago, she asked for an exit from the euro ».

Why are you often elsewhere when Meloni speaks in the Chamber? Are you not comfortable with her as the anti-Giorgia?

«I do not interpret my commitment as against someone, but for a different vision of the country. And in any case, at every opportunity for discussion that I have had with you, in Parliament and outside, the answers that the country needs have not arrived. If a female prime minister wants to support all the other women, measures such as a minimum wage and equal leave are needed”.

Meloni assures that the effort to free Zaki will continue. confident?

“For those who have always fought for liberation, it is a scandalous verdict, a very serious injustice. I ask the Prime Minister and Minister Tajani to report in the Chamber. They strike a blow and take action to obtain release and pardon”.

Is the battle for the minimum wage lost?

“It is unacceptable for the right to turn its face away. The minimum wage is a measure on which the oppositions have joined forces to ask that it does not go below 9 euros an hour, otherwise it is exploitation and cannot be legal. The suppressive amendment is not a spite to us, it means trampling on the rights of three and a half million male and female workers who, according to Istat data, are poor even if they work”.

What will you do when the measure is rejected?

«We will continue to fight in Parliament, but I think we should collect signatures from all over the country. 75% of Italian men and women are in favor».

But will you and Giuseppe Conte ever be able to build an alternative to the right?

«Now I am interested in relaunching the Democratic Party. After the congress we are committed to rebuilding a clear, coherent identity and to rebuilding the credibility of our proposal. Then we continue to be very unitary and seek convergence with the other forces who are interested in building the alternative to the right. The minimum wage can be followed by battles for public health and the implementation of the Pnrr, an unrepeatable opportunity for the modernization of the country. Unfortunately we risk losing resources.

On the Pnrr the government denies delays.

«The government is late, it has been talking about changes for nine months and it hasn’t been able to present them to Parliament and to the country for nine months. They have already put pen to paper that the fourth installment, if it arrives, we will see it in 2024 ».

Salvini’s “fiscal peace” divides the government: is it another amnesty?

“We have already counted 12 different forms of amnesty, unfortunately it is a government that winks at those who evade to the detriment of honest taxpayers, who pay taxes even for those who do not pay them”.

On 26 July you will vote on the motion of no confidence in Santanchè of the M5S. Don’t you risk just reuniting the majority?

“We have asked Santanchè to resign, in Italy and in Europe other ministers have resigned for much less serious reasons. In the Chamber he declared false things, it is not acceptable. When the motion arrives, we will vote for it.”

Is there any aspect of the Nordio bill on which the Democratic Party wants to discuss in Parliament? Or do you hope that the Quirinale will not promulgate it?

“We will fight to change it and I hope they will agree to discuss it. The mountain has given birth to a little mouse, it seems to me that that bill is unlikely to solve the critical issues of the functioning of justice. The majority struggles to find the square, we have seen it with the mutual denials on the external competition in the mafia association ».

Meloni, like her, will be in Palermo today to commemorate Borsellino, but will not go to the torchlight vigil. And was the premier right to stop Nordio, who wanted to change the external competition?

«The concern is understandable, if we want to revise tools such as external competition which have a jurisprudential value in the fight against the mafias and which have so far demonstrated their effectiveness. They pass themselves off as liberals, but then in the majority there are those who want to weaken some safeguards of legality and the tools to fight against organized crime, from raising the cap on cash, to changes to the procurement code”.

For the ANM, the separation of careers is a “danger for democracy”. Do you share the alarm?

«The government has opened a very dangerous institutional clash with the judiciary. I think there are risks in a system like ours, because where there is separation of careers, the compulsory prosecution, a cardinal principle of equality, is modulated differently. In the inability to give answers on an economic and social level, the government chooses one enemy every day. Rave parties, migrants, LGBTQ communities, green deals…».

Bonaccini fears that the anger of those who have lost everything due to the floods in Emilia-Romagna will spill over into the institutions, is he right?

«After the walkways of the first weeks, the government is not finding the resources for families and businesses. There are no appropriations and the government has wasted a lot of time on the appointment of the commissioner. They seem more interested in conquering the Region than in rebuilding it».

She is expected in Cesena at the Bonaccini convention. Will a current arise to overturn his secretariat?

“No, I’m not afraid of that. It is normal for different sensitivities to coexist in a large plural party, but that is why we hold congresses. My responsibility is to keep the party together by valuing pluralism, but without compromising the political line that won the congress. Since Bonaccini had said several times that he did not want to create new currents, I don’t think this is his goal ».

The turn to the left makes Catholics and reformists suffer. You are divided on weapons, on gpa, on justice and Fioroni, Marcucci, Borghi, Chinnici, Cottarelli, D’Amato are gone. How will he stop the great escape?
«It seems to me instead that the Democratic Party, from the National Directorate, is giving a good demonstration of unity. On the militant summer campaigns, health, housing, work, industrial policies, climate, Pnrr and differentiated autonomy, the party is united and compact. I respect the legitimate repositioning choices of people who are part of the ruling class, but I am above all interested in who is arriving in the Democratic Party ».

In Naples the absence of the De Lucas, Enzo and Piero was noted. Split in sight?

«You will never hear a bad word or an insult from me towards the leaders of the Democratic Party. I think the initiative in Naples against Calderoli’s differentiated autonomy has been a success, the welcome from the city, young people and civil society has been wonderful».