In the Berlinguer Montecitorio room, in front of the deputies PDto the secretary Elly Schlein and to leaders CGIL Maurizio Landini, Massimo D’Alema returned to the Chamber as editorial director Italy, Europe. The event was the presentation of the latest issue of the magazine dedicated to work and economic transformation, with the participation of Cecilia Guerrahead of the Labor Party in the national secretariat of the Democratic Party, and former European commissioner Nicolas Schmit.
But more than just an academic intervention, D’Alema’s intervention turned into a political warning: we need aunited opposition, a “wide field” capable of rediscovering a common language and a credible government perspective.
At the heart of his analysis is the question of employment, which for the former prime minister does not only concern a section of society, but is “linked to the fate of our country” and to the competitive capacity of the production system. For D’Alema, right-wing groups in government embody a model that is “doomed to decline”unable to face global challenges, technology and demographic challenges.
“Border closure policy it will matter for Italy in the next 50 years 40 million residents with an average age of 62 years – he warned – and it was true the end of everything: economic system, welfare, pensions. A country that repels, rather than attracts, young workers will lose its own.”
Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize dignity, rights and wages: not because of ideology, but because Italy will only be able to compete by investing in the quality of jobs, innovation and the ability to increase internal consumption in a world full of conflict and slowing global trade. “Recognizing the dignity of work is critical to the future of this country,” stressed the former DS leader.
But economic analysis is linked to democratic warnings:abstention spreads, especially among the most vulnerable social groups, where the disease is almost common 70%. It’s a system “census”where almost only the strongest classes voted.
D’Alema sees valuable indications in the American example: recent victories Zohran Mamdaninew social democratic mayor of New York City, elected on November 4, 2025 thanks to his abilities mobilize “the most marginal part of the population”. “They chose him knowing he would face high rents and a high cost of living“, he underlined, adding how commitment to real living conditions has convinced excluded groups to return to the polls.
Therefore, there is a call for the leaders of the center-left, and especially the Democratic Party: to re-establish a stable and strong dialogue with the trade unions and the cultural world. “There is an important part of the culture that wants to make a contribution… This must be called out more explicitly”, he warned, noting that this responsibility does not belong to one party, but to the entire coalition. Because, he warned, “We all win or lose together” And “Party hegemony in a coalition has relative value”.
D’Alema also remembers a passage from the book A manifesto for another economy and another politics from economists and historians Emanuele Felicewhich he himself reviewed for the magazine: historyGini indexa statistical measure of economic inequality in a population, which has increased steadily since the 1960s, but has only decreased at two points. It means, in the late seventies blessing left-wing social reformand in 1998 with the Ulivo policy. “This is proof that financial rigor and reducing inequality can be reconciled“, he claims, claiming the investment of time in health care with Bindi reforms, schools and Southern Italy.
And he concluded: “I say this because this is part of your historical legacy, we are old now, and this is something that belongs in the order of possibility and history of the left in this country.”
