Atreju, the Fdi youth party kicks off on Saturday: from Schlein to Abu Mazen, who will and who won't be there
On stage will be a hostage kidnapped by Hamas and freed under the newly reached peace agreements, Gianfranco Fini is expected to return. All opposition leaders will be present except the Pd secretary
Key points
NPC President Abu Mazen will be among the international guests at Atreju (Friday 12), the Fratelli d'Italia kermesse scheduled from 6 to 14 December at the Castel Sant'Angelo gardens in Rome. Not only, 'there will be Likud exponents at the Ecr assembly and there will be a hostage kidnapped by Hamas and freed with the peace agreements just reached,' announced Giovanni Donzelli, organisation manager and deputy of Giorgia Meloni's party. He is Rom Braslavski, an Israeli kidnapped on 7 October and held captive by Hamas for 738 days (he will speak on Sunday 7).
In past editions, the party's event in Via della Scrofa has hosted several international leaders, from former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to the Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati, via Argentine President Javier Milei and the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama.
The Atreju political festival, which started in 1998 as a youth gathering of the then Alleanza Nazionale, then evolved into a large right-wing kermesse, has lost its purely youthful label over the years. Now the event has become a moment of confrontation for the ruling party. An institutional kermis.
All opposition leaders except Schlein
But there will be a notable absentee at Castel Sant'Angelo: PD leader Elly Schlein. 'I thank the opposition leaders who will be present without conditions, there is not a single opposition party that is not present. All the leaders will be there except, as is well known, Elly Schlein,' confirmed Donzelli. How it went is well known: Fdi had invited the Dem leader, who set a condition: to be able to talk face to face with Giorgia Meloni. Condition rejected by the premier: 'I accept the confrontation if the other leader of the wide camp Giuseppe Conte is also on the stage'. At this point Schlein will not be there. The others will all arrive on 13 December: Giuseppe Conte, Angelo Bonelli, Carlo Calenda, Matteo Renzi. Many local administrators will also be present: regional presidents Roberto Fico and Marco Marsilio (11 December), Francesco Acquaroli, Roberto Occhiuto, Antonio Decaro, Roberto Fedriga, Francesco Rocca (13 December). And then the mayors of large cities: those of Rome Roberto Gualtieri (11 December) and Naples Gaetano Manfredi (10 December).
Atreju 2025's programme: "You've gone strong. Italy with your head held high'.
Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti will speak via video link on 12 December. As per tradition, on the closing day of Atreju, scheduled for Sunday 14 December, starting at 11.30 am, all the centre-right leaders will be present. At 12.15 the closing speech by Giorgia Meloni. Also on stage will be the return of Gianfranco Fini who will be the protagonist of a face-to-face with the former Mayor of Rome and Minister of Culture Francesco Rutelli (on 8 December).
