Azione leader Carlo Calenda said on Wednesday that if a centre-right government led by Fratelli D’Italia (FdI) chief Giorgia Meloni takes power after the September 25 general election, it is likely to collapse within months.
Azione is running independently from the big centre-right and centre-left blocs, part of the so-called centrist ‘Third Pole’ in partnership with the Italia Viva (IV) party of ex-premier Matteo Renzi.
“Meloni has been very good at gaining support. But before her, Matteo Salvini (Lega leader) and the M5S (5 Star Movement) did that too, and then the support for them collapsed,” former industry minister Calenda told an ANSA Forum.
“There is no sign of a governing class (in the party). It is important that the FdI leader is a woman, but she is also allied with (Hungarian Premier Viktor) Orban, a perpetrator of the most sinister sexism.
“A Meloni government would fall to pieces in a few months. And if she fails, Italy fails”. Calenda also criticized the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), with whom Azione had agreed pact before pulling out of it because he was unhappy with being in the same coalition as the Greens (Verdi) and Italian Left (Sinistra Italiana) parties.
Calenda stressed that voters did not understand the logic of the PD’s alliance.
He said he could see the Third Pole being part of another broad coalition government after the election if no side wins a working majority in parliament, adding that he would like it to be led by outgoing Premier Mario Draghi, hailing him, “the best there is.”
