Holocaust survivor opens Senate as far-right to govern Italy

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italy’s Fascist past and its future governed by a party with neo-fascist origins have come to an emotional head during the first seating of Parliament since general elections last month. Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre, a 92-year-old senator-for-life, presided over the opening session of the upper chamber. Her speech formally opened the sequence of events that is expected to bring the Brothers of Italy party, which which won the most votes in Sept. 25 elections and which has its roots in a neo-fascist movement, to head Italy’s first far-right-led government since the end of World War II. Speaking to the Senate, Segre marveled at the “symbolic value” of the coincidence of her role and the historic moment that Italy is witnessing.