She also told the government to end its "war" on NGOs that do search-and-rescue operations at sea, including humanitarian rescue ship Louise Michel, funded by British street artist Banksy, which was detained in the port of Lampedusa on Sunday..
Speaking at a meeting of PD lawmakers, Schlein said that Meloni should have asked the EU for a European version of the Mare Nostrum rescue operation the Italian State operated almost 10 years ago.
"She came back from Brussels with a fistful of fleas", Schlein, who also blasted the government's response to the February 26 migrant-boat disaster off the Calabrian town of Cutro in which at least 91 people died, said.
On Monday, Schlein also accused Meloni's government of an "unprecedented attack on the rights of boys and girls" who are children to same-sex parents.
Milan was recently forced to stop a procedure it had used to register both members of a same-sex couple as the parents of a child after the prefect's department warned it was illegal following consultations with the interior ministry.
The procedure was based on the transcription into the Milan civil register of foreign birth certificates of children conceived by surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy, or assisted fertility, which is only allowed for heterosexual couples here.
Furthermore, Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party has tabled a bill that would make surrogacy a "universal crime", meaning that Italians could be prosecuted for using the practice in foreign States where it is legal.
Many Italian same-sex couples have had children via surrogacy outside the country.
Schlein said the government "plants an ideological flag" every day, citing the "pressure to stop the transcriptions" of the birth certificates of same-sex-parent children.
"We have taken to the streets with our mayors over this and we'll work in parliament too (to protect the rights of same-sex-parent families)," she said.
ANSA
