Politics
What do the Democrats want? •
Yes, the PD does have a programme. Schlein’s 105-point agenda
Employment, taxation, pensions, welfare, education, Ukraine. We have uncovered the Democratic Party’s programme, drawn from the party secretary’s speech to the executive committee. There are around a hundred points. It is all there, ambiguities included. Enjoy the read.
7 NOV 26
Translated by AI
PD Secretary Elly Schlein at the PD’s national assembly in Rome, 18 October 2026 (Photo: ANSA)
Here it is: the PD’s manifesto. An exclusive. After asking the party where it was, we discovered – as the spokesperson for the PD secretary told us – that the manifesto “corresponds to Elly Schlein’s speech to the Executive Committee on 2 October”. We listened to it, transcribed it and organised it: 105 proposals, divided into 18 chapters. Some are predictable, others less so. It proposes indexing income tax brackets to inflation; abolishing unpaid extracurricular work placements; reinstating the ‘Women’s Option’; and safeguarding the pensions of those with discontinuous careers. For schools: free textbooks even at sixth-form level, psychologists in schools, and compulsory emotional education. For students, free public transport. Additional measures include higher salaries for doctors and teachers in remote areas, legislation to tackle heatwaves, the refurbishment of empty social housing, and an end to cascading subcontracting. For businesses, the plan envisages a single authorisation within 90 days for investments, more stable energy prices, greater political guidance on publicly owned companies, and the channelling of private savings towards productive investments. There is also a considerable dash of ‘Grillism’: a halt to the Strait Bridge, taxes on energy windfall profits, and opposition to NATO’s 5 per cent of GDP target. The weakest section concerns the finances: there is neither an overall quantification of expenditure nor a breakdown of funding sources. It mentions the 13 billion for the bridge – part of which is to be redirected towards hydrogeological instability – and the 800 million for centres in Albania, to be allocated to police recruitment. But these are not enough to finance all the structural measures. On Ukraine, a difference remains compared with the M5S: Schlein confirms support for the country under attack and rejects a peace that amounts to a surrender to Russia. She calls for a single European negotiator. Support for military aid is implied – it does not feature in the speech – but Schlein has reiterated this on other occasions. In short, the programme says a great deal about what the PD would like to do. Less, however, about what it would cost and the choices needed to achieve it. Here it is, in full: 105 points, 26,000 characters.
1. Wages, contracts and the organisation of work
Introduce a statutory minimum wage. Set a threshold below which pay cannot fall and, at the same time, strengthen the collective agreements signed by the most representative organisations. The minimum wage must combat exploitation and support collective bargaining, not replace it.
Experiment with reducing working hours whilst maintaining the same pay. Promote a different organisation of work that allows for a reduction in working hours without reducing pay. Combine the redistribution of wealth with more free time for individuals and families.
Drastically reduce the number of precarious contracts. Follow the Spanish model by engaging in dialogue with businesses and trade unions, seeking an agreement that limits precarious employment. The quality of work must be part of the growth strategy, alongside training and wage increases.
Combat forced part-time work. Take action to improve the conditions of those working part-time against their will, with particular attention to women, who are most affected by this form of job insecurity.
New rights for delivery riders. Strengthening the protection of organised labour through digital platforms. Technological innovation must not become a tool for perpetuating forms of exploitation that lack adequate safeguards.
Abolish unpaid extracurricular work placements. Eliminate unpaid work in extracurricular programmes, in response to the request from youth organisations.
Combating low-quality work. Moving beyond a model of competitiveness based on wage compression. Improving pay must help to underpin consumption, innovation and growth, rather than being regarded as a separate objective from economic policy.
2. Pensions, self-employed workers and VAT-registered individuals
Reinstate the ‘Opzione donna’ scheme. Reintroduce the early retirement scheme for female workers.
A pension guarantee for young people. Protecting generations with precarious and sporadic careers, ensuring that job insecurity does not also result in a lack of adequate pension prospects.
Strengthen social welfare for the self-employed. Extend social protection for the self-employed and VAT-registered individuals, recognising that conditions of poverty and vulnerability also exist within these groups. Overcome the divide between workers who are better protected and those lacking sufficient safeguards.
“Introduce a minimum wage, reinstate the ‘Opzione donna’ scheme, and strengthen welfare provisions for the self-employed”. Coverage? A mystery
3. Health and safety at work, public procurement and the rule of law
More training, corporate accountability and inspections. Strengthen accident prevention through more training, a clearer acceptance of responsibility by companies and an increase in the number of inspectors.
Legal aid for the families of victims. Ensure legal assistance is provided to the families of those who die at work, so that the possibility of obtaining justice does not depend on the family’s financial means.
No to cascading subcontracting. We must move beyond the system introduced in the Public Procurement Code, combating the lengthening of supply chains in which work becomes less secure, more susceptible to blackmail and more exposed to mafia infiltration.
Fully enforce the law against illegal labour recruitment. Provide the necessary resources and infrastructure to combat exploitation. The implementation of the law must go hand in hand with the effective protection of workers, starting with farm labourers.
Strengthen measures against the Mafia and corruption. Increase safeguards for the rule of law, rather than reducing them. The fight against organised crime, corruption and labour exploitation must be an integral part of government policy.
4. Taxation, tax evasion and redistribution
Index income tax bands to inflation. Counteract the tax drag and refund to taxpayers the additional tax liability resulting from the nominal increase in income. The adjustment of the tax bands must ensure that keeping pace with inflation does not automatically result in a higher tax burden.
Put progressivism back at the centre. Ensure that those with greater resources contribute a larger proportion, in accordance with the constitutional principle of the ability to pay. Move beyond a tax system that favours unearned income and penalises work, business and innovation.
Reduce taxes on labour and businesses by combating tax evasion. Extend compliance with tax obligations to those who evade them, ensuring that the cost of public services is no longer borne solely by taxpayers who pay their taxes regularly: employees, pensioners, the self-employed and honest business owners. Oppose tax amnesties, which reward tax evasion at the expense of those who fulfil their obligations.
A greater contribution from energy windfall profits. Call on major energy and oil companies to contribute more in light of the exceptional profits they have made whilst households and other businesses have been facing rising bills.
“Index IRPEF tax brackets to inflation, reduce taxes on labour, and increase the contribution from energy ‘windfall profits’”
5. Energy, industrial policy and investment
A growth strategy based on three pillars: reducing energy costs, reviving investment, and improving the quality of work and training. Safeguarding the country’s manufacturing future whilst balancing economic growth, redistribution and ecological transition.
Accelerate the roll-out of renewables to reduce the link between electricity and gas. Increase generation from renewable sources and decouple the price of electricity from that of gas as much as possible. Reducing energy costs must be a priority for industrial policy.
A national task force for power stations. Bring together central government and the regions and involve local communities before decisions on siting are taken. Community participation must be incorporated into the planning stage of the projects.
Immediate benefits for areas hosting renewable energy facilities. Provide energy discounts for households and energy quotas for local small and medium-sized enterprises. The presence of a facility must bring recognisable benefits to the community hosting it.
A new role for the Single Buyer. Enable it to enter into long-term contracts to ensure more stable and competitive energy prices for small and medium-sized enterprises. This would address not only price levels but also the uncertainty weighing on businesses’ decision-making.
Use the flexibility for energy. Use the 14 billion euros of flexibility to tackle energy costs.
A single authorisation process across the whole of Italy. Extend the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) model to investments in technology and ecological transition throughout the country. Establish a single point of contact capable of providing a response within 90 days, making the decision to invest in Italy simpler and more predictable.
Strategic missions for publicly owned companies. Set out a direction for large publicly owned companies that is consistent with industrial policy priorities. It is policy that must define the strategic direction of public enterprises, not the other way round.
Channelling savings into the real economy. Directing a portion of the 1,700 billion euros held in Italians’ current accounts towards productive investments, particularly in innovation within small and medium-sized enterprises.
Reintroduces Training 4.0. Supports the upskilling of workers and positions training as a tool for productive transformation, alongside employment quality and innovation.
6. Giovani e diritto a restare
Pass the law on the ‘Right to Stay’. Develop a set of measures that enables young people to choose to live and work in Italy, rather than being driven abroad by precarious contracts, low wages and a lack of prospects.
Wages and business innovation. Wage increases should be accompanied by a fund for business innovation, as part of the package of measures aimed at the younger generation. The possibility of people staying in the country must also be based on the quality of job opportunities.
Scholarships, research and PhDs. Increase funding for scholarships at universities in the South and provide funding for new research and PhD scholarships. Offer opportunities to those at risk of leaving the country because they cannot find suitable conditions to continue their studies.
Housing and public transport. Complement measures for work and study with support for access to housing. Make local public transport free for students, building on the regional initiatives mentioned in the speech, starting with Emilia-Romagna and Campania.
7. Birth rates, Southern Italy and inland areas
Address the underlying causes of the falling birth rate. Take action to tackle job insecurity, insufficient incomes, housing difficulties, a lack of services and the professional disadvantages faced by mothers. Make it possible to choose to start a family by ensuring more secure living and working conditions.
Increase the number of nurseries and make them free of charge. Expand provision so that it is accessible to all children. This service must form part of policies on children, families and women’s employment.
100 per cent paid equal parental leave. Ensure that both parents are entitled to fully paid leave, moving away from a system where the burden of childcare falls mainly on mothers.
A law for inland areas. Tackling depopulation by bringing services to areas at risk of being abandoned. Providing better pay for doctors, nurses and teachers working there, to enable them to move there and stay.
The revitalisation of the South as a prerequisite for national growth. Narrowing regional disparities and countering ‘differentiated autonomy’. The revitalisation of the South must form part of the strategy for the whole country, not a separate chapter within national policies.
8. Housing and rentals
Restore and increase the rent support fund. Reintroduce rent support and increase the funding allocation beyond the previous €330 million.
Reactivate unused social housing. Draw up a maintenance plan for public housing stock, carrying out work on properties that remain vacant because they require minor or medium-scale repairs. Make them available again as quickly as possible to people who are entitled to a home and are still on the waiting list.
A law on short-term lettings. Give mayors the tools to tackle speculation in towns and cities. Strengthen local authorities’ ability to tackle the issue through national legislation.
9. Climate, environment and local area
Make climate action a priority of the joint programme. Ensure that social justice and climate justice go hand in hand, focusing on those with fewer resources to protect themselves or recover from the consequences of a flood, a heatwave or another emergency.
Protecting people from heatwaves. Passing a dedicated law, with particular attention to the elderly and vulnerable people. Protection against climate-related risks must be considered part of public safety.
Combat land consumption. Pass a national law to limit over-development and protect the countryside.
A major plan to tackle hydrogeological instability. Strengthening prevention, rather than concentrating resources primarily on post-emergency measures. Protecting the territory must become an ongoing policy.
Redirect resources from the bridge to land protection. Halt the Strait Bridge project and allocate part of the approximately 13 billion earmarked for it to other priorities, starting with the prevention of hydrogeological instability.
Sustainable mobility and the circular economy. Supporting both as components of ecological transition and a shift in the development model.
10. Security and urban regeneration
Combining protection and prevention. Treating safety as a right for everyone, especially the most vulnerable. Complementing the fight against crime with policies designed to tackle the conditions of marginalisation and neglect.
Strengthen police staffing levels and presence on the ground. Increase the police presence in local areas and ensure that responsibility for maintaining public order is not shifted onto mayors without providing them with adequate resources.
More social and educational support services. Strengthen collaboration with the third sector and street-based education initiatives. Develop prevention policies through dialogue with local authorities and those working in the neighbourhoods.
Revitalising derelict spaces. Investing in urban regeneration, improving lighting and restoring functionality to empty or run-down areas. The quality of public spaces must be an integral part of security policy.
Allocate the resources of the centres in Albania to the police. Abandon the centres project and use the €800 million to recruit more police officers.
11. Immigration and reception
Amend the Bossi-Fini law. Revise the provisions that lead to irregularities and combine compliance with the law with a different approach to managing immigration. Open up safe, regular and regulated channels of entry.
Sharing the burden of reception at European level. Affirming the principle that anyone entering Italy is entering the European Union. Sharing responsibilities amongst Member States, ensuring that geographical location does not result in the burden of reception falling predominantly on countries of first entry.
Counter the imbalances in the European Pact on Migration and Asylum. Resume the fight against a system that places an increasing burden on border countries. Link the benefits of EU membership to a willingness to participate in European solidarity.
“Security? It’s time to address the imbalances in the European Pact on Migration and Asylum”
12. Public health
Bring public healthcare spending up to 7 per cent of GDP. Strengthen the National Health Service and ensure that access to treatment does not depend on financial means. Public funding must prevent staff shortages and growing waiting lists from driving those who can afford it towards the private sector and forcing others to go without treatment.
An additional five billion to recruit doctors and nurses. Immediate action must be taken to address staff shortages in hospitals and healthcare services. Recruitment must be a priority in strengthening the public health service, alongside changes to the care model.
A healthcare system that is closer to the people. Shifting the focus of care towards local communities, increasing local services and developing community centres and community hospitals. The revitalisation of the healthcare system must not only concern resources, but also the way in which care is organised and delivered.
More home care and services for those who are unable to look after themselves. Adapt care provision to the ageing population by strengthening home care and services for those who are unable to look after themselves. Care must be a collective responsibility, not a task left solely to the person who is ill or their family.
Investing in mental health. Increasing resources, strengthening staffing levels and ensuring adequate facilities, even in areas where these are lacking. Addressing the shortage of professionals must go hand in hand with the development of a healthcare provision that is genuinely accessible.
13. Schools, universities and research
A school open to all. Ensuring that every girl and boy has the same right to a high-quality education, without discrimination based on nationality or background. Opposing the introduction of caps on the number of foreign pupils and making school the primary place for social emancipation.
Safe buildings, more space and less crowded classrooms. Make a major investment in school buildings, ensuring they are safe and expanding the available space. This will create the conditions to reduce class sizes, rather than tackling the challenges facing schools by separating pupils.
Teachers and cultural mediators. Greater attention should be paid to teachers’ working conditions and remuneration, and the number of cultural mediators should be increased. Inclusion must be supported by adequate staff and resources.
Full-time schooling and school autonomy. Extend full-time schooling where it is lacking and oppose school consolidation measures that undermine schools’ autonomy, particularly in marginalised areas. Schools must help to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
Psychologists in schools. Strengthening psychological support for pupils, responding to the need for a listening ear and assistance expressed by the younger generation.
Education on emotional well-being and diversity. This should be made compulsory, recognising the role of schools in preventing bullying and gender-based violence. Prevention must go hand in hand with legislative measures and efforts to combat violent behaviour.
A right to education that covers the costs of attending school. Make textbooks free of charge in secondary schools as well, and include school meals and transport in policies on the right to education. Guarantee a grant to all eligible students, removing the condition whereby eligible students are excluded from receiving support.
Defend public universities. Oppose funding cuts and the reform of university admissions procedures. Strengthen the role of universities in education and the production of knowledge.
Ensure stability in research. Reduce job insecurity amongst researchers and improve career prospects for those working in research. Recognise scientific knowledge as a necessary prerequisite for managing the ecological and digital transitions.
“Educazione all’affettività e alle differenze. Renderla obbligatoria nelle scuole. Prevenzione della violenza di genere”
14. Artificial intelligence
A public guide to technological transformation. Do not leave it solely to large private companies to define the rules and direction of artificial intelligence. Regulate its development to prevent wealth, power and knowledge from becoming even more concentrated in the hands of a few.
Redistributing the benefits of AI. Using technology to improve people’s lives, production processes and work, ensuring that the benefits reach society as a whole. Public regulation must support innovation, not stand in its way.
A European research centre. Bringing together the best expertise from the 27 member states, overcoming the fragmentation of national efforts.
An alternative European model to the American and Chinese ones. To develop artificial intelligence that is consistent with the European social model, based on transparency and full respect for fundamental rights.
Applications in public administration and healthcare. Having reliable systems available for use, amongst other things, in combating tax evasion and improving the accuracy of diagnoses.
15. Civil rights, women and justice
Ensure that social rights and civil rights go hand in hand. Remove the barriers that prevent people from living on an equal footing. Combat discrimination, including its consequences in terms of access to employment, the opportunity to start a business and the use of services.
Recognising the children of same-sex couples. Filling the legal vacuum through national legislation, without leaving the protection of children solely to the initiatives of local mayors.
Approve same-sex marriage. Extend civil marriage to same-sex couples.
A national law on end-of-life care. To provide a legislative response to the call for regulation in this area, complementing and overcoming the fragmentation of regional initiatives.
Defend women’s freedom of choice. Safeguard the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy and oppose the entry of anti-abortion organisations into family planning clinics.
A law on consent. To establish that sexual intercourse without consent constitutes violence. To complement legislative measures with education on emotional relationships and prevention.
A more efficient justice system. Continue to address the operational problems within the justice system, without considering the issue closed following the opposition to the government’s constitutional reform.
16. Democracy, electoral law, information and culture
Defend the checks and balances of the Constitution. Safeguard the role of Parliament, the President of the Republic, the judiciary and the supervisory bodies. Counteract the weakening of the Court of Auditors and the curtailment of parliamentary prerogatives through the continuous use of decrees and votes of confidence.
Oppose the prime minister’s dominance. Oppose the concentration of power and defend the constitutional balance between the institutions.
Give voters back the power to choose their MPs. Reintroduce preferential voting and oppose ‘locked’ list leaders. Representation must not be reduced to the mere choice of a leader.
Defend gender equality. Ensure electoral rules that safeguard the representation of women and oppose the removal of provisions aimed at achieving this objective.
Oppose the distortions of the new electoral law. Oppose the disproportionate majority bonus, the mandatory nomination of a candidate for Prime Minister, the redefinition of overseas constituencies and the increase in the number of signatures required to submit candidate lists. Defend pluralism and the right to participate in the electoral process.
A Rai independent of political parties. Approve the public service reform presented jointly with the other opposition parties. Guarantee autonomy from politics and effectively implement the Media Freedom Act, safeguarding pluralism in the media.
Support the film industry. Push forward with legislative measures dedicated to the sector and defend the role of culture, countering political interference in its institutions.
17. Europe, foreign policy and defence
Revitalising multilateralism. Upholding international law, diplomacy, dialogue and cooperation. Countering the replacement of common rules with power struggles between states.
Restore the centrality of Italy’s European vocation. Strengthen the country’s international role through the European Union and move beyond a position of subordination to Trump, starting with tariffs, energy and military spending. The Union must preserve its nature as a peace project and take more decisive action.
Continue to support the Ukrainian people. Oppose Russian aggression and work towards a just peace, which does not amount to surrendering to the aggressor’s demands.
A single European negotiator for Ukraine. Immediately appoint a representative to lead the Union’s diplomatic initiative. Do not leave the future of Ukrainian and European security to be decided by negotiations between Trump and Putin. Work towards a negotiated solution without waiting for the conflict on the ground to run its course.
Recognise the state of Palestine alongside Israel. Make this recognition a prerequisite for building a lasting peace. Condemn the actions of the Netanyahu government and find a way out of a situation in which the ceasefire does not prevent the continued loss of life in Gaza.
Follow up on the ruling in the Regeni case. Call on Egypt to hand over the convicted individuals to the courts and to pay the compensation due. Defend the dignity and rights of Italian citizens, including those abroad.
Moving beyond unanimity in the European Union. Eliminating national vetoes that prevent joint decisions. Where the conditions for amending the treaties do not exist, proceed with enhanced cooperation between those states willing to pursue greater integration.
Continue joint investments beyond the PNRR. Promote European programmes modelled on Next Generation EU, with the aim of mobilising resources in the region of 800 billion euros each year. Tackle at European level the challenges that individual countries cannot address on their own.
Investing in European common goods. Allocating shared resources to infrastructure, energy, healthcare and artificial intelligence. Developing a major European industrial and social plan, accompanied by an innovation plan.
A common defence, not 27 separate rearmament programmes. Develop a shared European capability, distinct from the arms race between individual states with uncoordinated armies. Oppose the target of military spending at 5 per cent of GDP and prioritise the strengthening of public services, starting with healthcare.
Strengthen Europe’s capacity to tackle monopolies. Limit the concentration of economic power and utilise the Union’s scale to protect the European social model.
18. The political project and the alliance’s programme
A development model that combines growth with redistribution. Changing the neoliberal model and linking social justice, environmental protection, innovation and investment. Redistributing wealth, knowledge, power and time, making people’s lives more secure.
The Constitution as the basis for the programme. To commit to its full implementation, article by article, as a shared commitment: decent work, equality, health, education, rights and democratic participation.
A binding pact between allies and with the electorate. To draw up a joint programme that is not merely a collection of proposals or an agreement between political groups. To combine concrete measures with a vision for the future of Italy and Europe.
Develop the programme through participatory engagement. Involve citizens, trade unions, businesses, the third sector, associations, local councillors and the younger generation. Take the debate beyond party headquarters alone.
First the programme, then the leadership. Identify a leadership that represents the entire alliance, recognising the electoral weight of the various political forces. In the absence of an agreement on the principle of the party with the most votes taking the lead, resort to primaries.
Govern with the progressive alliance, not through broad coalitions. Stand united in the elections and assume responsibility for government through a coalition victory.