Carlo Calenda, the leader of the
opposition centrist Azione party, on Wednesday blasted the
centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party for using images of their
late founder, ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, in their campaign
material for the upcoming European elections.
When asked if he thought FI would take votes away from his
party, the former industry minister told an ANSA forum: "I don't
think so - FI is a party that is asking you to vote for a
deceased person".
Calenda said Azione was above the 4% threshold needed to have
MEPs elected in the opinion polls before a pre-vote ban on their
publication kicked in and it was aiming to do better and reach
5%.
During the forum, Calenda attacked the government in several
fronts, including the measures it presented this week to cut
national health service waiting lists.
"The money to implement the decree is not there," he said.
"Two billion euros are needed, but only a tenth of that has been
allocated.
"They are misleading citizens in this way.
"It's immoral to mislead those waiting for an operation.
"It's shameful and unacceptable".
He also criticized the setting up of Italian-run migrant centres
on Albanian territory.
"Albania is theatre, it's a slogan," Calenda said.
"They say we'll spend 650 million euros for 6,000 migrants a
year if things go well.
"If things go well, the daily cost of a migrant in Albania will
be five times what we pay in Italy, 15 times if things go
badly".
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