Meloni denies Schlein claim 'dividing Italy'

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 16 - Premier Giorgia Meloni on Friday denied a claim made in a La Repubblica newspaper interview by centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein that the self-described government "patriots" were dividing Italy and abandoning the poorer south, the Mezzogiorno, with their 'differentiated autonomy' plans and their scrapping of the RdC citizenship wage basic income anti-poverty benefit.
    "I was reading an interview this morning by the leader of the opposition, great respect because I was in the opposition for so many years, who said that the patriots are abandoning and betraying the Mezzogiorno: I think there are two ways to address the gap, there is the citizenship income and the citizenship infrastructure, and the Rdc 'was the answer of those who considered these territories irretrievable," said Meloni at the signing with Calabria of a key agreement for development and cohesion.
    "To those who accuse me of dividing Italy I would like to say that Italy was divided by those who believed that there were first-class and second-class citizens," she said apparently referring to the past political and cultural hegemony of the Left. (ANSA).