Elly Schlein

thumb|Elly Schlein in 2023 Elena Ethel "Elly" Schlein (born 4 May 1985) is an Italian politician who has been serving as the secretary of the Democratic Party (PD) since 12 March 2023. She is a member of Italy's Chamber of Deputies and was previously the vice president of Emilia-Romagna and a member of the European Parliament. On 26 February 2023, she was elected as the new Democratic Party secretary with 54% of the vote, becoming the first woman to lead the party. Quotes Interviewer: You were born in Lugano and your father is American. How did you fall in love with Emilia-Romagna? Schlein: I have been a proud adopted daughter of this region for 15 years. Emilia-Romagna is a region that, like few others, can become a home, a home for the many people who have chosen it. It never asks you where you come from; it asks you what we can do together. I came to Bologna to study law and I never left. Quoted in Alessia Arcolaci, Tutti pazzi per Elly Schlein: una nerd, innamorata dell'Emilia, vanityfair.it, 29 January 2020. I belong to a generation that had turned its back on politics; I did too. But at a certain point, you realise that if you don't roll up your sleeves and try to be part of that change, if you don't try to be the change you want to see in society, you can't expect others to do it for you. Even if you're fed up with politics and decide to stay away from it, you have to realise that other people will still do politics, and the impact of their decisions will still affect your life. So, it's worth getting involved in public affairs, in whatever form and way you can. Quoted in Alessia Arcolaci, Tutti pazzi per Elly Schlein: una nerd, innamorata dell'Emilia, vanityfair.it, 29 January 2020. (About Matteo Salvini) A ruthless man. He has a vision that I find aberrant, but at least it's understandable. Quoted in Francesco Oggiano, Elly Schlein: «Con i 5 stelle neanche una settimana, amo la libertà d'espressione», rollingstone.it, 1 February 2020. Interviewer: How would you explain your feminism to a young girl who isn't interested in the subject? Schlein: By showing her the glass ceiling above her head: in Europe, for the same job, women earn 16% less and receive a 39% lower pension. On the boards of directors of listed companies, we make up just one in twenty. And during the pandemic, more of us were made redundant, because we have precarious contracts. Another example: during the lockdown, male researchers produced more, while female researchers produced less. Do you know why? Because the burden of family care falls on them. I want this selfless young woman to have the right to choose what the hell she wants to do with her life. From an interview by Raffaele Panizza to Vogue Italia, November 2020; quoted in Non sono una vittima. Intervista a Elly Schlein, vogue.it, 12 November 2020. [The Italian right party] has always shown that it believes the Constitution puts too many annoying obstacles in the way of a single man in charge. On the contrary, its checks and balances are fundamental to protecting democracy. After all, their role models are the authoritarian figures of Trump, who incited the assault on Congress, Putin, who invades countries and punishes dissent, and Orbán, who wants pure races: it's no surprise that their plan here is to crush democracy and human rights. Quoted in Silvia Bignami, Elly Schlein: "Destra pericolosa, mira ai pieni poteri. Il M5S? Speravo in una intesa", bologna.repubblica.it, 14 August 2022. The flat tax is the ultimate form of injustice, inequality and mockery, because the idea of lowering taxes for the rich is paid for by the poor. It's an idea that results in a lack of services for those who can't afford a San Raffaele health plan to get treatment. Quoted in Silvia Bignami, Elly Schlein: "Destra pericolosa, mira ai pieni poteri. Il M5S? Speravo in una intesa", bologna.repubblica.it, 14 August 2022. Giorgia Meloni leads a party that relegates women to the role of living handouts: this makes her a useless leader for women. From the TV programme In onda, LA7; quoted in Elly Schlein: "Meloni è una leadership inutile per le donne", ilrestodelcarlino.it, 18 August 2022. [The right party is strong because] it is extremely adept at pointing the finger downwards, at those who are worse off, and making them a scapegoat. From an interview by Francesca Schianchi to La Stampa; quoted in Schlein: "Andrò nei luoghi di confine, sono certa che si possa vincere", partitodemocratico.it, 23 August 2022. (About the murder of Giulia Cecchettin) For true justice to be done, for Giulia Cecchettin and for all the other women killed by male violence, this is not enough. And pain and indignation are not enough. We cannot continue to witness this massacre day after day. Over the past few months, and again in recent days, following Paola Cortellesi's words, I have spoken to Prime Minister Meloni, and I say it again today: at least when it comes to combating this slaughter of women and girls, let us put aside political conflict and try to get the country to take a step forward. [...] Let us pass a law without delay to introduce this education in schools. Quoted in Giulia Cecchettin, Meloni: "Dramma inconcepibile". Schlein: "Subito una legge", tg24.sky.it, 19 November 2023. Interviews Mattia Caniglia, Così parlò Elly Schlein, Rivista Studio n. 45, 2020; republished in rivistastudio.com, 27 February 2023 Incontro makes me think of an opportunity. An opportunity for fundamental growth. Some of the most significant encounters I had were during my time in Europe. I met colleagues who, despite coming from very different national backgrounds, are fighting for exactly the same vision of the future. Still at the European level, but this time in an ideal sense, my encounter with social democratic and environmentalist thinking left a huge impression on me. [...] The other day, I was really struck by something Jacinda Ardern said shortly after winning the election in New Zealand: 'We are too small a country to ignore the views of others.' That phrase captures exactly my understanding of what it means to come together. My experience as a volunteer on the Obama campaign allowed me to have many enlightening encounters, which helped plant the seed of what later became my tangible political commitment. Personally, I didn't expect to become so actively involved in politics. It was a bit like a seamless journey, where we moved forward step by step, but without any premeditation. I had no idea I would end up in the European Parliament or become Vice-President of the Emilia-Romagna Region. There is an absolute need for dissent. [...] If we give up on the possibility of opposing viewpoints coming together, we run the risk of missing the opportunity to find more effective solutions. [Do we need new leadership that also possesses emotional intelligence to change this politics?] Empathy is an important part of politics, because it keeps you grounded. In other words, it still keeps you connected to the everyday lives of the people you're trying to represent. However, there are both pros and cons to this. This is especially true because, when you deal with vulnerability, in some way, that vulnerability stays with you, and you end up carrying it around with you. They don't leave you indifferent. However, empathy undoubtedly helps to create more inclusive connections. More importantly, it would help to overcome a major, unresolved flaw in our political system: the model of a single man at the helm. And we absolutely cannot solve that problem with the model of a single woman in charge. Instead, we need to create new mechanisms that bring teams of people to the helm, people with different skills who are able to take a 360-degree view of the complexities of social, economic and environmental issues. I think some of our own leaders have also learnt that this is the leadership model we need to promote vigorously. They seemed incredibly strong, but then, without the ability to develop a new leadership team around them, they crumbled very quickly. ['What stands in the way of women's rights and their access to political power?] The obstacle is that, both in Italy and across Europe, we are part of a system that has to deal with centuries and centuries of patriarchal culture. [...] We are also far behind in Europe. Moreover, Europe has incorporated an extraordinary cultural innovation into Article 8 of the Lisbon Treaty: the principle of gender mainstreaming. In other words, it is not about siloed gender policies, but about a gender-mainstreamed approach across all public policies. The point, in fact, is not to change the way we look at women, but to incorporate women's perspectives. At the party level, the obstacles are also linked to sexist attitudes, and it is not a question of right or left. There is also a lot of sexism on the left. However, the fundamental, systemic problem – which lies at the root of a thousand other problems – is the work–life balance. This is the first and most pressing obstacle for women. Household chores, looking after children, caring for dependent elderly people, and caring for people with disabilities – all of this falls disproportionately on women's shoulders. How can these women, including those who also work, manage to dedicate themselves to public affairs? To make real progress, we need a gender-focused approach that also involves men. And it's not just about rights; it's also about economic opportunities. Over more than a decade, globalisation processes have undermined certain reference points. Important aspects of these processes have not been regulated, and as a result, many people have felt left out. In addition to these rapid changes, there is now a threefold crisis. There is a demographic crisis, with Europe's population ageing while welfare systems do not appear to be prepared to manage this change. There is a climate crisis, which has polarised and continues to polarise politics. Finally, there is a geopolitical crisis, characterised by global inequalities and increasingly intense conflicts. Faced with all this, people – who are also poorer than before as a result of these crises – now look to the future with fear. Someone once said that this fear should be directed towards those who are worse off. And here we have the mechanism, the strategy, of the nationalist right, of this dark international movement. The rhetoric used by certain right-wing groups is the same [...] and, by using it, they reinforce each other. So, Orban's wall reinforces Salvini's closed ports, reinforces Le Pen, Trump's wall and Farage's ideas. We cannot leave internationalism to the nationalists. [...] But for heaven's sake, while these people are strengthening each other, where are we? Why can't we do the same and support each other in the battles fought by the progressive and environmentalist forces on the European left? Our opponents present a distorted but clear vision of society and the future. We don't articulate a clear vision. We cannot respond to other people's vision by remaining silent, by nodding to ideas that are not our own, or by being timid. However, this is exactly what has happened to all the social democratic forces in Europe over the past few years. We therefore need to acknowledge that there has been a cultural failure. We have not been able to interpret the major societal changes that have terrified people. [So what do we do now?] Now, we certainly cannot point to an 'other' enemy with the same effectiveness. Nor can we identify this enemy solely as the 'evil fascist'. It is not through a values-based contrast of this kind that you can rebuild a connection with those groups who have empathically identified with a message different from ours. We need to start by acknowledging that some of the most disadvantaged groups genuinely believe that Italy's problem has been immigration, without realising that, in terms of redistribution, we have a bigger problem. We then need to dismantle this rhetoric and explain that, when people point downwards to say that things are bad today because of the immigrant who arrived in Lampedusa, they should actually be pointing upwards, because the only 'us and them' divide that really makes sense to discuss is the one that separates the 26 richest people in the world from the poorest half of the world's population, around 3.8 billion people. We also need to remember that those involved in politics have a responsibility not to fan the flames of social tension that inequalities inevitably create. From the squares where the big protests take place [...] come our greatest hopes and our best lessons on how to change this Europe. Take Greta [Thunberg]'s Fridays for Future movement, for example. They were so effective because the issue at the heart of that protest was immediately understood as one that transcended all borders, giving rise to movements across Europe that fed into one another. This kind of positive spiral has a much greater impact than any speech we made in Strasbourg, not least in terms of putting the issues that matter on the agenda. The guidance is not just about how things are done, but also about what issues are addressed. Today, we are called upon to lead a turnaround on the social front, as well as on the environmental front and in terms of the ecological transition – which, as you will have realised, is my obsession – by keeping together what society is already keeping together and which only politics divides. Bringing together different senses of belonging. Alice Fill, Le cinque sfide dell'Europa: conversazione con Elly Schlein, legrandcontinent.eu, 21 December 2020 ['What role do you think the European progressive left can play today in tackling rising inequalities?] Progressive, environmentalist and left-wing forces should be guided by a shared vision and common goals which, although they already exist, are predominantly national in scope. While Orbán's wall reinforces Salvini's closed borders and the politics of Le Pen and Farage, the professionalism shown by Portugal's Antonio Costa in reviving the economy while taking care to reduce inequalities has not strengthened the European left in the same way. In part, this is also our responsibility: we are still too bogged down in national, inward-looking debates. My experience in the European Parliament has left me with a profound awareness that I, along with so many of my colleagues, share the same struggles, the same concerns for the future, and also the same responses to the new challenges we face. [...] I believe that politics has a responsibility not to fuel the social tensions caused by inequalities, but to address their root causes. How can we do this? Through redistributive policies, by listening to citizens, and by ensuring that no one is left without a response that meets their needs. Only in this way can we avoid taking our frustrations out on our neighbours, who are sometimes even worse off than us. On the issue of feminism, we are making very significant progress: women are taking the space they deserve, without waiting for someone to give it to them. Of course, that won't happen; we still live in a world where every position held by a woman means, first and foremost, one fewer position held by a man. It is not true that women are a minority: we make up the majority of the world's population. The issue of women being under-represented in decision-making roles – in politics as well as in business – is a problem that affects everyone, which is why it is important to involve men in this challenge as well. Given that the make-up of society is as we know it, how can we create policies that meet society's needs if we turn a blind eye? A fundamental component is missing. Ensuring full gender equality is therefore crucial. Let's clear up a common misconception straight away: people oppose women's quotas on the basis of merit. I've never seen anyone make that argument, given decades of governments made up entirely of men. We are not only demanding the right to gender equality in decision-making roles; in those roles, we are also demanding the right to make mistakes. No one has ever held a man to account for holding a position of power because he is a man, rather than because of his merits. There is still a long way to go; Italian society is still steeped in a sexist, patriarchal culture, and gender-based violence is just the most extreme manifestation of a cultural 'soil' in which violence takes root. Moreover, this violence is conveyed through culture, language, gender stereotypes, and representations in the media and – at times – even in public institutions. That is why it is crucial to support women's education in all disciplines, including STEM [acronym for 'science, technology, engineering and maths]. That is why it is important to work to promote the use of inclusive language. As a professor from the Accademia della Crusca said, it is right to refer to women as 'ministra' (minister), 'assessora' (councillor) and 'avvocata' (lawyer), because when only our surnames remain in official documents, it is right that people remember that that person also brought her womanhood to bear in the exercise of power. Female 'leadership' and feminist 'leadership' are two radically different things. Having a woman leader is not enough to ensure that she has the capacity to 'liberate' other women, especially if the woman in question leads a party that relegates women to a domestic role and has never defended their rights, starting with the right to make choices about their own bodies and their own futures. We have never heard these leaders speak out on the issue of work–life balance – a key issue in supporting women's employment – nor on women's participation in political and economic life. Although 'female leadership' and 'feminist leadership' are two distinct things, it is still good to have gender equality: I am happy when there are women MPs, councillors, local representatives and party leaders I can argue with, because we have different views on how to empower women and girls. Intersectionality is crucial because it teaches us that different forms of discrimination do not cancel each other out, but instead add up. Take the situation of refugee women [...]: there are at least three levels of discrimination that risk intersecting – economic, racial and gender-based. Indeed, these different forms of discrimination often stem from the same oppressive system: it is to change this system that we need to unite our struggles. This is a crucial step. I believe – and I hope – that the younger generations are developing an awareness that will enable them to move in this direction. As I cautiously took part in the extraordinary protests that [...] filled the streets to defend gender equality, to respond to the climate emergency, to show solidarity with migrants and to fight for decent work, I saw significant areas of overlap. Faced with these overlaps, I wonder why politics is so far behind, why it keeps trying to divide things that, more and more often, are marching together in society. You can't ask those people in the squares whether they feel closer to Greta Thunberg or to Carola Rackete. Shortly after Trump took office, at the London Women's March, feminists marched side by side with environmental movements, with second-generation movements fighting for full equality of rights, and with LGBT+ movements: all of us, together, will help us write a better chapter. Gloria Riva, Elly Schlein: «Ritardare ancora la transizione ecologica è l'errore più grande che possiamo commettere», espresso.repubblica.it, 25 July 2022 The biggest mistake we could make is to further delay the ecological transition and replicate the model that has brought us to this point, in the name of other urgent issues. These interlinked crises are known as a syndemic: in addition to the economic and financial crisis, which began to affect the poorest sections of the population in 2008, we now have a global pandemic and a very serious climate crisis, which was far from unpredictable and which could have devastating effects on our regions and our communities. If we respond to each of these crises in a way that is shaped by the conventional social and economic model, we will be contributing to the ongoing weakening of society, which will be increasingly vulnerable to the risk of new crises. We need the courage to turn in a different direction, to fundamentally change the model. If technological innovation and the energy transition are not guided by redistributive policies and conscious protection of employment, they will lead to piecework and exploitation, and it is here that political action is lacking. There has been no trade union mobilisation like the one that led to the Workers' Statute in the 1960s, but work has changed profoundly since then. Therefore, it is necessary for politicians to promote, on the one hand, a modern workers' charter to protect new jobs and, on the other, the creation and growth of environmentally sustainable businesses and the development of relevant skills. Italy, a country of sun, water and wind, must use these assets to its advantage, avoiding the mistakes made in the past. This is because, in the past, economic incentives for the production of renewables have not been followed by appropriate industrial policies to develop the underlying industrial supply chain. Failure to support the development of the green economy, which is labour-intensive and offers competitive job opportunities, would do enormous damage to the country's future. We need to focus on high-productivity industrial sectors, such as green energy production, and scale back those areas that do not offer as much employment wealth. To achieve this, it is essential to support the development of green and digital skills and the creation of new businesses. There are no excuses [...] This is the way forward: politicians must take action to ensure that the green transition becomes a desirable asset. Gabriella Cerami, Dall'Italia sfila in corteo, un campo largo arcobaleno. Schlein: "Qui per la libertà", repubblica.it, 29 June 2025 Pride was an extraordinary popular response – the best possible response to Orbán's authoritarianism.* We are here for freedom and democracy. You cannot ban love by law. You can't erase people's identities or our bodies; we are people, and we have rights. Banning Pride is a violation of European constitutional rights. Once again, on this occasion, Giorgia Meloni managed not to say a single word in defence of democracy and people. Gabriella Cerami, Schlein: "Questa destra fa la guerra ai diritti. Da Meloni, silenzio grave", repubblica.it, 30 June 2025 Banning Pride is institutional discrimination and violates European law, so it is not acceptable.* The 200,000 people were mainly Hungarians; there were families, young people and the elderly. There were many international participants, but the biggest public response came from Budapest. We were there to show solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community, which is under attack in Hungary and around the world. Love cannot be banned by law. These nationalist right-wing groups, including Giorgia Meloni, are obsessed with erasing differences. They talk a lot about the traditional family, but they don't set a good example. All families should be protected. Instead of fighting poverty and addressing people's needs, they are fighting individual freedoms. They wage ideological battles against migrants and LGBTQIA+ rights to hide the fact that they are cutting public health services and freezing the minimum wage. Meloni wants to give her friend Trump a gift [by increasing military spending to 5%] because this move does not strengthen Europe's common defence; instead, it will result in more purchases from the US and will destroy Italy's welfare state. She should have said no to Trump on the 5% target, like Sanchez, and on the tariffs as well. She should have said no to Orbán, who bans Pride parades and refuses to show solidarity on welcoming refugees to Italy. The Prime Minister is sacrificing the national interest for the sake of her friends. Netanyahu, Meloni and Trump are attacking judges because this right-wing faction does not accept that it has to abide by the law and by international law, because they believe they are above the law. Speeches hold at the Italian Chamber of Deputies Verbatim Transcript of the Session Assembly No 13, 23 November 2022 Contrary to what we often read in an unacceptable media narrative that takes the perpetrator's side, the sickening assumption that men have a right to own women's bodies does not arise from a fit of rage, mad jealousy or desperate love, but from patriarchy. The fact is indisputable: in a patriarchal society, violence towards women is not incidental, but structural. Reports of violence and harassment must be taken very seriously, even before they result in a complaint to the police, given that eight out of ten women do not report such incidents because they fear they will not be believed. Perhaps this is because, through secondary victimisation, we allow ourselves to judge the credibility of a report based on how long it took the victim to report it, as if it were not often a question of power imbalance or fear. Or perhaps it is because incidents of 'catcalling' are constantly downplayed, even though it is not a harmless way of making a pass but a form of harassment, punishable in France under a specific law. We need to overcome this cultural challenge by making a commitment, starting before it is too late, to eradicate sexist prejudice, beginning in the classroom. This requires a huge investment in education about differences – not to erase them, but to value them – so as to ensure equal rights and human dignity for everyone. [...] Patriarchal violence does not only affect women; it also affects LGBTQI+ people, who are people with rights and most certainly not an abomination (Referring to the statements made by Lucio Malan). As we know, another key element in combating gender-based violence is the economic empowerment of women: only in this way will they also be able to free themselves from this form of coercion. Warning: Abolishing the Citizenship Income would mean abolishing tools for empowerment. Women who escape violence must be guaranteed housing – the 'freedom income' is a good idea, but more resources are needed because the current ones are still not enough – as well as decent work, not low-paid or precarious work. We also need to close the gender pay and employment gaps and invest in social and educational infrastructure to free women from the care burden that weighs disproportionately on their shoulders and holds them back in the workplace. Verbatim Transcript of the Session Assembly No 13, 5 December 2022 You only have to meet and listen to representatives from the sector to realise that agriculture is one of the sectors hardest hit by the climate emergency. Extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent and more intense, are causing damage and creating uncertainty about the continuity of production. There has been a drought this summer, as well as unusual frosts at unexpected times, the Asian citrus psyllid and other external pathogens: our agriculture is facing a level of vulnerability it has never experienced before. However, agriculture also knows that it is one of the contributors to climate-changing emissions. We need to restore balance with the planet, because [...] we only have one planet, and we don't own it – at best, we have it on loan and we will have to hand it back to future generations. When the battle is waged over the lowest possible prices, we must always consider who is paying the price for our savings. This cannot be done at the expense of the most basic protections of workers' rights, because we can no longer tolerate people being forced to work 14 hours a day for four euros an hour, if and when they are paid at all! If we allow the seed of blackmail to take root in our society, it will give rise to social injustice that will affect not only those workers, but all of us as a community. Quotes about A few days ago, I read a long interview with Schlein in Repubblica – a full page in which she managed to avoid saying the words "Democratic Party" even once. Luigi Zanda, quoted in Daniele Preziosi, «Senza strategia, il declino del Pd è sicuro», editorialedomani.it, 21 November 2022. [About her candidacy for Democratic Party leader] She doesn't even have a PD membership card. She would be the classic foreign Pope. She is an interesting figure; she is not a leader. Carlo De Benedetti, quoted in Aldo Cazzullo, De Benedetti: «Pd partito di baroni. Ora appoggino Moratti, e non siano schizzinosi», Corriere della Sera'', 17 November 2022. External links Schlein, Elly Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:Women politicians in Italy Category:Women born in the 1980s