"These are the last hours of evaluation that I am also doing. I asked Cecilia Strada to lead the list in the north west. I say this with emotion. It is a great honor that she accepted. I am very happy with how the Democratic Party is slowly opening up and brings together the best energies." The secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, said this to La Repubblica delle idee, in Naples.
The lineups for the European Championships are starting to take shape. And one after another the big names come into play. The secretary of Forza Italia Antonio Tajani, Emma Bonino for the United States of Europe and Stefano Bonaccini for the Democratic Party will run. While awaiting the decision of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has hinted that she is ready to run, Elly Schlein will dissolve the reservation in the PD leadership: in the party ranks, the secretary's personal commitment is taken for granted. In short, the electoral campaign for the vote on 8 and 9 June is coming into full swing, also because time is running out: the lists must be ready on May 1st. Among the big names of the centre-right, therefore, only the secretary of the League, Matteo Salvini, will certainly not be there.
While Tajani cast the dice: "We are aiming for 10% - he said - because Forza Italia is the only party perceived by moderate voters as a responsible and capable movement". At the national council of FI, the deputy prime minister and secretary of the party announced that she will run as leader everywhere except in the Islands, where the MEP Caterina Chinnici, daughter of Rocco, the magistrate killed by the mafia, will lead the Azzurri. For the Democratic Party, the secretary will illustrate the scheme on Sunday. Schlein is expected to run as the frontrunner in the Islands and Central. At the Nazarene the work on the composition of the lists will continue until the last minute, but the agreement between the various souls of the party seems close. The official announcement of Bonaccini's run as leader of the North East suggests this: the governor of Emilia Romagna, who is also president of the party, is the leader of the internal Dem minority.
"We must deploy all the best energies we have - said Schlein - his ten-year experience as president of Emilia-Romagna and his role as president of the Democratic Party make it a very strong proposal for the battle we must wage and Europe that we want to build." In the event of election - practically a given - Bonaccini will have to leave the leadership of the Emilia Romagna Region early: "For me it was a long reflection", said the governor in a video message, but "today nothing ends, today is a new beginning We still have a long way to go together." In the south, the Democratic Party leader is Lucia Annunziata, while in the North West we are talking about Cecilia Strada, daughter of Gino, founder of Emergency. Instead, MP and former minister Andrea Orlando has decided not to run: "My task is to stay here - she said at an event in Liguria - and help the political process that must move forward".
The leaders of the list have already been chosen in the United States of Europe, which brings together a series of forces, such as Più Europa, Italia viva, Psi and Radicali. Emma Bonino will lead in the North West, Graham Watson (Alde) in the North East, in the center Giandomenico Caiazza, Enzo Tortora's historic lawyer, in the South the secretary of the PSI Enzo Maraio and in the islands Rita Bernardini of the radicals. "There is no one from IV - underlined Matteo Renzi - We are not putting up flags, we are here to say that we believe in the project of the United States of Europe as a constitutive choice". The announcement was made during an initiative to present the symbol. Where there was no shortage of jabs at Action leader Carlo Calenda: "This is not the Bonino-Renzi list - said Bonino - I made a political proposal and I am grateful to all those who embraced the project with enthusiasm. I confess a regret, I hoped that Calenda would overcome the Italian controversies he caused, but he chose division."
The controversy on the right does not stop over the candidacy with the Greens-left of Ilaria Salis, the teacher-activist detained in Hungary. "I have always said that in my opinion it was a mistake to politicize the matter because it would not have facilitated our activity", said Tajani, speaking as Foreign Minister.
While Ilaria's father, Roberto, confirmed that the Democratic Party had also come forward: "I would have preferred her to run with them - she told Repubblica - My daughter, however, has a political history that she cannot deny".