“Ready to support Orlando” –

“Let’s clear the field of any ambiguity. If to create the alternative to the Meloni government we need to leave the Genoa majority, let’s talk about it. But is this really the point or is it an alibi to break away?” Matteo Renzi interviewed by La Stampa, explains Italia Viva’s position after the M5S’s support for the Democrat Andrea Orlando in Liguria, for the vote at the end of October. “We do not intend to keep our feet in different shoes and therefore we are ready to separate our path from that of the very good Marco Bucci”, he says with reference to the invitation from Elly Schlein to make a choice of sides. “We are ready to be present in a reformist list without party symbols. And to support Orlando’s candidacy, with whom I have different positions but whom I have nevertheless appointed as minister”.

“But – the former prime minister emphasizes – it is enough that they are not alibis. There is no point in beating around the bush. In Liguria the problem is not Italia Viva, but the divisions of others”. Because “if Schlein gives the line, we are in. If Giuseppe Conte gives the line, then we are out. But the stakes today are not on Italia Viva but on the leadership of the coalition. The PD has opened up, we are in. We are not in the coalition because the doctor ordered us to, but because the secretary of the PD asked us to”. Yet another sign of rapprochement between Renzi and Schlein, despite the internal stomach aches of part of the Dems.