Former Italian Prime Minister Returns to Lead Democratic Party

Enrico Letta, former prime minister of Italy and retired politician, returns to Rome to lead Democratic Party. (Wikimedia Commons)

Delegates in the center-left Democratic Party (PD) elected former Prime Minister Enrico Letta to lead Italy’s second-largest party under Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s coalition government on March 14. He plans on reducing internal party conflict to recapture disillusioned voters and steer the party in a more pro-European direction.

After a sudden resignation from Nicola Zingaretti, who quit because of infighting, Senior Democrats petitioned for Letta to take on the position. Following a disappointing 18.7 percent in the recent 2018 elections compared to its peak in 2014 at 40 percent that Zingaretti, in his two-and-a-half years in office, was unable to sufficiently address, party leaders hoped that Letta, an experienced and well-known politician, would revamp the popularity of the party he helped to found more than a decade ago. Delegates elected him with 860 votes for, two against, and four abstentions.

Ousted by then-General Secretary of the Party Matteo Renzi, after serving as prime minister from April 2013 to February 2014, Letta has been serving as an academic dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po in France since 2015 and President of the Jacques Delors Institute. Recently returning home to Rome from his work in Paris, Letta signaled his enthusiasm for this next stage in his life, remarking that his “love for politics and democratic values” made him decide to head back into the political arena.

While the 2018 elections produced the most Euro-sceptic parliament in post-War history, in more recent years, the populist and more right-wing parties “The League” and “Five Star” have considered joining more mainstream and pan-EU political movements. Letta, the moderate and pro-European politician, regards this change as a “miracle.” Under his leadership, Letta promised to promote “progressive values” and “reformist methods.” No doubt due to his extensive academic scholarship throughout Europe and his globalist outlook, including his knowledge of many languages, Letta aims to expand upon this recent progress towards a pro-European and European Union agenda within the Italian government.

Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who stepped down as prime minister in January 2021, will remain yet another heavyweight in the Italian political scene due to his early handling of the coronavirus, as he is currently overseeing the relaunch of the once anti-euro “Five Star Movement” that would place him as the leader of Italy’s biggest party, just above Letta’s own.

In an hour-long speech, Letta called upon the party to “renew itself” by making itself available to future alliances and ridding itself of the kind of internal party conflict that has left many voters alienated. In an endorsement posted on Facebook, former party leader Zingaretti showed his confidence in his successor, remarking that Letta would lead in this progress to “promote the project of Italy and Europe.”