“If there are moments in which it is useful to talk face-to-face, I’m available,” Schlein told a press conference when asked about a possible meeting with Meloni, the leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party.
Schlein, 37, was elected the PD’s first woman leader in February after ex-premier Enrico Letta stepped down following the centre-left party's poor showing in last September’s general election.
That election saw Meloni get voted in to become the country's first woman prime minister.
Schlein said that Italy’s National Resilience and Recovery Plan (NRRP) was among the issues the PD was ready to discuss with the government.
Rome is in talks with the European Commission on changes to the post-COVID plan to make the Italian economy greener and more modern, with projects financed thanks to almost 200 billion euros in EU grants and low-interest loans.
There have been delays in the implementation of some parts of the plan and European Affairs Minister Raffaele Fitto said Tuesday that it will not be possible to do some NRRP projects.
Schlein also called on Meloni and the government to distance themselves from Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Minister Francesco Lollobrigida after he said that Italy’s low birth rate meant Italians risked enduring “ethnic replacement” by migrants.
She also called on Lollobrigida “not to repeat beastly things of this kind”.
On Tuesday Schlein said the minister’s words smacked of “supremacist” tropes and took Italy back to the days of fascism.
ANSA
