Italy’s shattered Democratic Party tries to bounce back

Tens of thousands of Italians rallied in Rome on Sunday for the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) as it seeks to rebound from a shock defeat to a populist coalition in June.

Published: 1 October 2018 09:01 CEST

Italy's shattered Democratic Party tries to bounce back

The PD's rebound rally in Piazza del Popolo in Rome. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

A banner deployed in the Piazza del Popolo, or 'people's plaza', declared that those present represented “The Italy that is not afraid”.

The nation is on the frontline of the European Union's struggle to stem migration from Africa and the Middle East, and it roiled financial markets last week when the new government appeared to ditch a stringent public deficit target in favour of increased spending to honour a key electoral pledge.

“We are in the presence of irresponsible [leaders] and ne'er-do-wells,” exclaimed former PD leader and Italian premier Matteo Renzi in reference to the heads of a government now comprised of the anti-system Five Star Movement and the hard-right League.

Former PD leader and prime minister Matteo Renzi speaks to the crowd. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

Current PD Secretary General Maurizio Martina claimed that Italy's new leaders were “obsessed with finding an enemy rather than a solution.”

The PD is in dire need of a solution itself meanwhile, having slid from a stunning victory in 2013 through a string of defeats to the final blow in March when it recorded its worst-ever result, winning just 18.7 percent of the vote in a general election. Along the way it lost control of cities such as Rome, Turin, Venice and Genoa, a traditional stronghold.

Renzi resigned but that has not stopped the party from losing support.

“There is a risk it could sink even further,” political scientist Roberto D'Alimonte at the Italian Centre for Electoral Studies (CISE) told AFP. “We are living in unstable times, it is hard to forecast” what might happen next, he added.

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According to CISE surveys, the PD has lost much of its traditional base, concerned by economic inequality and illegal migration, and become a party that represents the upper middle class.

As for Renzi, who still wields considerable influence within the party, he has become “a bit like Silvio Berlusconi for Forza Italia, a burden” that is pulling it downwards, D'Alimonte said.

The daily La Repubblica wrote that the PD offered “the spectacle of a party on its last legs, with leaders tearing each other apart against a background of alternating, chaotic theories” on how to bounce back.

A recent opinion poll credited the party with around 16 percent support.

At the rally on Sunday, Martina declared: “We need a new PD for a new left,” while the crowd responded with cries of “Unity, unity!”

PD Secretary General Maurizio Martina. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

By AFP's Ljubomir Milasin

The strike comes after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is close to Meloni — called a top RAI editor to complain about a television report into Italy’s controversial migration deal with his country.

The Usigrai trade union called the strike from May 6 to May 7 saying talks with management had failed to address their concerns.

It cited numerous issues, including staff shortages and contract issues, but in first place was “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government”.

It had already used that phrase to object to what critics say is the increasing influence over RAI by figures close to Prime Minister Meloni, who leads Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

However, another union of RAI journalists, Unirai, said they would not join what they called a “political” strike, defending the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster.

Funded in part by a licence fee and with top managers long chosen by politicians, RAI’s independence has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni — leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia — redoubled concerns.

Tensions erupted at the weekend amid accusations RAI censored a speech by a leading writer criticising Meloni ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, when Italians mark the defeat of Fascism and the Nazis at the end of World War II.

Both RAI’s management and Meloni have denied censorship, and the premier posted the text of the monologue on her social media.

In another twist, Albania’s premier confirmed Thursday he called senior RAI editor Paolo Corsini about an TV report on Sunday into Italy’s plans to build two migration processing centres on Albanian territory.

Rama told La Stampa newspaper the report was “biased” and contained “lies” – adding that he had not raised the issue with Meloni.

The Report programme claimed the costs of migrant centres, which are under construction, were already “out of control” and raised questions about criminals benefiting from the project.