Schlein challenges Meloni: "The right is incompetent, we are ready to govern: minimum wage now."

Below we report extensive excerpts from the interview that Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein gave to AdnKronos

Secretary Schlein, this could be a historic August 15th with the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. What are your expectations? We are following the summit closely: if it is a step toward a just peace, good, but concrete guarantees are needed, not cosmetic operations. Ukraine must also be at that table, alongside the European Union. It is unthinkable to discuss a just peace without the unjustly invaded people. It must not be a surrender to the aggressor, and from this perspective, Trump is not offering sufficient guarantees. This is why it is important that Ukraine and a united and cohesive European Union, capable of asserting Ukrainian and European security interests, be included in the negotiations.

How great is the risk that Russia will deceive the United States, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims? Putin bears responsibility for the criminal invasion. He has recently shown no willingness to stop the war.

Do you agree with what the Italian government is doing on this issue, or should something else be done? Even before Trump's arrival, there was a lack of political and diplomatic initiative from the Italian government and, more generally, from the European Union to create the conditions for a just peace on the Ukrainians' terms. Today, Italy must work to ensure that Ukraine and the EU sit at the negotiating table with a single, strong voice.

Let's look at the Italian agenda: in just over a month, the Marche region will vote. Will the "broad field" succeed in wresting the region from the center-right? We run everywhere to win. In the Marche region, there is a strong desire for change: around Matteo Ricci's candidacy, we have built a credible project and a strong, diverse coalition with seven lists. We want to unite and discuss concrete solutions. President Acquaroli, in line with the Meloni government, has gradually dismantled public healthcare: the region spends €160 million on healthcare migration; the people of the Marche pay twice, in taxes and in travel for treatment elsewhere. I would add that, following the government's challenge of the Tuscan law on minimum wages in public procurement, Ricci and the entire coalition are committed to approving the same measure in the Marche region. It will be a key issue in all regional elections.

Tuscany and Calabria? Each region has its own specificities. In Tuscany, we want to defend and innovate a model of quality and good governance: I cite the latest laws on tourism (including short-term rentals), industrial consortia to prevent deindustrialization with worker-led leadership (like at GKN), and end-of-life policies, which unfortunately this government has challenged. This is why we want to re-nominate Eugenio Giani, who has done well and enjoys strong support. In Calabria, the early election was a personal calculation by Roberto Occhiuto, who sniffed the air and feared being ousted by the parties that were supposed to support him. We had a very positive initial meeting between the forces alternative to the right, focusing on healthcare and infrastructure, where the current right-wing majority, as in the rest of the country, has made matters worse.

But is it true that the broad field works when the Five Star Movement chooses the name, as in the Todde case, and instead M5S voters don't vote when there's a Democrat, see Orlando's defeat? Alliances work when they are built on mutual trust and respect for differences: what matters is a common project, a shared program, and credible candidates. Our ability to build unity has produced extraordinary victories with all the forces alternative to the right: I'm thinking of Genoa, Assisi, and Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna with Michele de Pascale , and Umbria with Stefania Proietti. When we are united behind credible candidates and a shared program, we are competitive and we win.

Let me put it differently: do you trust Giuseppe Conte and Matteo Renzi? I trust everyone's goal is to build an alternative to this right-wing government, which is damaging the country and its international credibility. With Conte and the other leaders of the alternative right-wing forces, we have already found significant convergence; we are building a path forward with patience and clarity. This coalition exists: it has won several recent elections. We are already in the field in Veneto with Manildo and in Marche with Ricci; on the other side, aside from the incumbents, they still have no candidates. We will continue to work "stubbornly united" on our programs, seeking concrete convergences.

Meanwhile, the center-right is starting to work on a new electoral law. Is it open to discussion? What are the Democratic Party's proposals? I don't know if the center-right is working on an electoral law: we learn that from the newspapers. The opposition hasn't received any concrete proposals.

Let's move on to the main themes of your platform. School: What's your assessment of Valditara's package, consisting of a 5 in behavior and a failure, citizenship exam, and a ban on cell phones? It's a " security-based approach ." That's all. A government that focuses on repression rather than prevention, as in the security decree and also on gender-based violence. Schools must educate about citizenship and critical thinking; they won't improve by tightening rules or looking back at a past that no longer exists. Investment is needed: in L'Aquila, years after the earthquake, many schools are not up to standard. Teachers, among the lowest paid in Europe, must be paid more, and textbooks, cafeterias, and local public transportation must be made free.

Healthcare: what is the primary emergency? Lift the cap on hiring doctors and nurses to reduce waiting lists : a cap, let's remember, put in place when Meloni was in government with Berlusconi and I was a university student. It's a crucial issue: those who have money skip the queue in private healthcare, and those who don't have it forgo treatment. The number of Italians who forwent at least one service increased from 4.5 to 6 million between 2023 and 2024. The right wants a healthcare system tailored to the budget; we want a universal healthcare system that treats everyone, as the Constitution requires.

Employment is at an all-time high since ISTAT began recording it: what's the problem? The numbers are worth reading: there is more employment, driven primarily by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which we achieved and which the government has slowed down. However, those figures contain a lot of precarious, poor, and exploited work. We propose a legal minimum wage in a country with some of the lowest wages in Europe : €9 gross per hour, a threshold below which it isn't work but exploitation. It exists in 22 European countries; in Germany, I remind Antonio Tajani, Angela Merkel introduced it and it has triggered positive wage trends. We want to incentivize contract renewals: 5 million workers are still waiting for them and so far they have only recovered a portion of inflation. We also propose a law against forced part-time work, which affects women especially. And then we need to increase workplace safety, increase controls, and put an end to cascading subcontracting.

Higher living costs: what immediate measures can be taken to close the gap between real wages and purchasing power? Two zero-cost measures. First, and I won't tire of repeating it, the legal minimum wage. Second: decouple the price of energy from that of gas, as in Spain and Portugal, to provide relief to businesses and families and restore competitiveness: it takes courage to change a mechanism that currently guarantees extra profits to a few energy companies at the expense of the production system. And then let me launch a new proposal.

Please… I believe Italy should follow the French example and make a major agreement with large-scale retail trade (GDO) to ensure stability and control over the price of basic necessities and support the purchasing power of all Italians. They have entered into an anti-inflation pact with companies and introduced measures to ensure fair prices and prevent speculation. A structural agreement, not a one-off, propagandistic initiative like the Tricolore Shopping Cart proposed in 2023 by the Meloni government.

Regarding Gaza, you are calling for the immediate recognition of the State of Palestine : what institutions are currently capable of managing governance and security in the region? Who should be responsible for the Strip? It's clear it can't be Hamas. There is a Palestinian National Authority that needs to be strengthened and it is an interlocutor. The joint statements of European foreign ministers, including ours, also state this. The crimes of Netanyahu's far-right government in Gaza and the West Bank must be stopped: an immediate ceasefire, access for humanitarian aid, and the release of all Israeli hostages, which Netanyahu has neglected for political reasons. We support the voices of dissent in Israel, the recent demonstrations against the criminal plan to occupy Gaza, and the general strike called by the hostages' families. Pressure must be applied with all means: sanctions against the Netanyahu government and its ministers, suspension of EU-Israel cooperation agreements, and a halt to the military memorandum of understanding between our two countries. And we must immediately recognize the State of Palestine, as Spain, Norway, and Ireland have done, and as France and the United Kingdom have also announced . It is serious that Meloni says that it is "premature": if we wait, we risk there being nothing left to recognize, given that Netanyahu's ministers openly declare the objective of wiping out Gaza and the Palestinians.

But Hamas said that October 7th was necessary for the recognition of Palestine. Don't you think giving in sets a very dangerous precedent? Can terrorism be justified for political purposes? Terrorism can never be justified. We have strongly condemned the Hamas attacks. What happened afterward was not self-defense against terrorists, but collective punishment of an entire people, unacceptable. We demand recognition of Palestine because it is right and because the vision of two peoples and two states is needed, which the Israeli government and Hamas deny. There are interlocutors in Palestine, and they are not Hamas: the signal must be sent immediately.

To govern, you need the votes of Italians. What should drive them to trust you in two years' time? Because we are proposing a vision that restores hope to the country. We are not condemned to an ideological government that reduces support for healthcare, education, and employment. We have five priorities that speak to the material conditions of Italians: public healthcare; schools, universities, and research; decent work; industrial policies for major digital and ecological transformations; and civil and social rights, including the right to housing, with an increasing number of citizens unable to pay rent or obtain a mortgage.

Are you managing to convince them? Since the beginning of my term, we have brought the Democratic Party back to the people , in front of factories and hospitals, rebuilding trust with those who had stopped voting. We have crisscrossed the country, even in the internal areas that the right has abandoned, while Giorgia Meloni remained locked in the palace. We transform the material conditions of Italians into proposals: a minimum wage, a law against forced part-time work, equal leave, and the public healthcare system that they are dismantling. We are not building a coalition 'against,' but for.

(by Davide Desario )