MILAN, 14 August 2022, (TON): The leader of Italy’s Democratic Party warned of the threats that Italy’s right-wing nationalistic parties pose to European democracy in a video released in multiple languages, and promised that his party would keep Italy at the center of the European Union if it wins the country’s early parliamentary election next month.

The video by Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta comes days after the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, did a multilingual video of her own to dispute suggestions that her election as premier would endanger democracy in Italy and threaten the management of EU pandemic funds.

Meloni, whose party controversially uses the symbol of a flame borrowed from a neo-fascist party, said in an Aug. 10 video that the Italian political right has “unambiguously” condemned the legacy of fascism.

At the moment, the center-left Democratic Party and the Brothers of Italy are the leading parties in opinion polls going into Italy’s Sept. 25 parliamentary election. Neither looks assured of having enough votes to govern alone.