Decoding the news. The Italian Democratic Party is continuing to weave its transatlantic network. After the seminar hosted at the Nazareno to discuss the United States and the transformation of the West — first reported by Formiche.net — the debate inside the Pd is now moving into a more operational phase.
- At the centre are relations with Washington, Europe’s role, the erosion of multilateral balances and, in the Democrats’ view, the need to distinguish between the United States and the political season embodied by Donald Trump.
- That is the framework outlined by Stefano Graziano, Democratic MP and one of the party figures most closely following international affairs under Elly Schlein’s leadership. His message is straightforward: build a stronger European pillar, reinforce dialogue with America’s progressive camp and put diplomacy back at the centre of international relations, at a time when, he argues, the law of the strongest is gaining ground.
Q: The Pd has launched a broad reflection on the United States. What is the political starting point?
A: The fundamental distinction is between Trump and the United States. We are not questioning in any way the historic friendship between Italy and America.
- The discussion concerns an administration that, so far, has produced only conflicts around the world without managing to build credible paths toward peace. That is where the Pd’s reflection begins: understanding how to rebuild a more stable and genuinely multilateral international balance.
Q: Was the Nazareno seminar merely a study session, or the beginning of a political path?
A: It is clearly the beginning of a path. There is a will to build more diplomacy, more soft power and less hard power.
- We are living through a historical phase in which the logic of force, the law of the strongest, seems to prevail. We believe instead that the international order must rest on social justice, dialogue and cooperation among peoples.
Q: The idea of a stronger European axis often returns in the PD’s internal debate. Why is it so central today?
A: Because in a world shaped by giants such as America, China and Russia, imagining that Italy can face these challenges alone is simply unrealistic. We need to strengthen the European axis and build more Europe, keeping the transatlantic relationship firm but making the European Union the central pillar.
- A common defence and a European foreign policy are two essential assets. The more Europe becomes a protagonist, the more it will be able to play a role in peace efforts and in shaping the new balances of the international order.
Q: What is the Meloni government getting wrong in its approach to Washington?
This government has placed itself substantially on Trump’s axis and, in our view, that has not produced positive results. We believe a different approach is needed: more balanced and more European.
- International relations should not be interpreted exclusively through force or immediate convenience.
Q: So the Pd is looking toward America’s Democratic and progressive world?
A: Yes. The idea is to resume and strengthen relationships that have historically existed with U.S. Democrats, while also redefining an axis through the Party of European Socialists and the broader network of progressive international relations.
- Elly Schlein is working to build more diplomatic activity, more political relationships oriented toward peace and fewer conflicts.
Q: Is that also how we should read Schlein’s recent trip to Canada?
A: Certainly. The Toronto visit goes in the direction of reconnecting with North America’s progressive world.
- The meeting with Obama was also very significant: it strengthens a longstanding relationship and shows the Pd’s desire to reinforce transatlantic dialogue with the democratic and progressive camp.
Q: Trump will soon face the midterm elections. How do you see that vote, and what impact could it have?
A: We see growing unpredictability in Trump’s political action and, above all, a tendency to read everything solely through power relations.
- That is the opposite of what he had promised during the campaign. I believe the midterms will reveal a great deal of dissent toward this approach.
Q: You joked about Trump and the Nobel Peace Prize…
A: Yes, because today it looks more like a Nobel Prize for wars than for peace.
- It is a joke, of course, but it captures what is happening in the international scenario and vividly reflects what he has done in this first phase of his term: wars.
