The Democratic Party elects Martina as secretary. Zingaretti against Renzi: 'He doesn't listen'

The Democratic Party assembly elected Maurizio Martina, the current regent, as secretary, with seven votes against and thirteen abstentions. "What struck me most about Matteo's speech, and what also saddened me a little, was that ultimately he never listens to others, to their arguments. For a leader, that's a huge limitation." This is how Nicola Zingaretti commented to journalists on Matteo Renzi's speech at the Democratic Party assembly. "Restarting cannot mean rebuilding a PDS-style or a Unione-style organization," Matteo Renzi told the Democratic Party assembly. "If anyone thinks nostalgia is the key, they're missing the point," he added.
“We had hegemony for three or four years. We lost it and the act of resignation has this meaning” of acknowledging defeat, Renzi continues. And a part of the audience applauds to underline Renzi's responsibility. At that point the former secretary stops and replies: “Let's all lower the tone of the fans. I know that I'm not the only one responsible but in politics it's done like this: one pays for all”.

Among the causes of the defeat are "the tone and timing of the electoral campaign. It is not the cold sobriety that makes a people dream, you have to give a strong horizon to the country". Another cause is "the lack of leadership: there is no community that does not express a leader, because in politics communication is essential". Furthermore, "we did not dictate the agenda: on the ius soli we had to decide, either we put the confidence in June or we stopped talking about it. I would have done it because it is fundamental". "Let's stop considering those next to us as enemies. We will see each other again at the congress, you will lose the congress again and the next day you will go back to attacking those who won". "I love to stay on the content and reason, for those who are able to reason, not for everyone...", he insists. And then to his people: "I suggest you do not fall for provocations".

You can't always, however and only, attack from within. Because that helps the right. Enough with the backyard brawls that our people can no longer stand. I will give my contribution to the educational and cultural battle against those who want to lock us in hate and fear". "Do the path you want, I'm here, but if the day after the elections we start all over again, the problem is when the congress closes, not when it begins", he adds. "We are not in the third Republic but we are not even in the first Republic in which the current of a party imagines weakening the leader to then have something more. Either we realize this or we will lose the possibility of influencing". Forget about "the third Republic, with Salvini and Di Maio we are in the third grade". Renzi then attacks the Five Stars: "Did we have alternatives? The agreement with M5S. I fought like a lion to oppose it because whoever wins the elections must govern, and M5S and Lega won. If we had formed a coalition with M5S or the center-right, we would have sent the winners of the elections into opposition and it would have been a wound for the country. They would have said that no one respects democracy. If those who said there was an M5S-PD agreement had won, we would have had a deep constitutional wound – he states – I respect those who say that M5S is the new left, they are singers, intellectuals, but I think it is the old right. We will never be able to forgive them for having transformed the political struggle in Italy into a brawl. You have polluted the layers of democracy. Is there a center-left component in M5S? They can take the bus and pay contributions to housekeepers, but they remain a faction of the League”.

Martina takes the floor, convinced that the PD is at stake. For this reason, she says, an extraordinary congress must be started immediately. “I propose that the party start an extraordinary congress process between now and before the European elections that will lead us to develop new ideas, people, tools. We must reorganize everything”. “In the fall we will hold the territorial congresses, because in the territories the party has collapsed”. And then in October “a great event that addresses the country. I ask to be able to do a reconstructive and refounding work: the founding reasons of the PD are at stake”. “The PD is moving. With difficulty, but it is finally moving. Now let’s ban any conservatism or nostalgia for the past with recipes that have failed. We must look forward. When we succeed, the PD wins, together with many others, even now”. Nicola Zingaretti wrote this on his Facebook profile, hailing the congress before the European elections as positive. “We are openly building “alternative committees” across the country to rally those who want to change and give Italians a future,” he adds.