Scholz’s party warns against possible far-right win in Italy

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s ruling center-left party is warning that a victory for far-right leader Giorgia Meloni in Italy’s upcoming election would be bad for Italians and European cooperation when many on the continent are feeling the strain of high energy prices. The chairman of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats on Monday accused Meloni of spreading falsehoods about Germany and aligning herself with “anti-democratic” figures such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Lars Klingbeil met in Berlin with Meloni’s main rival, Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta. He said Letta’s approach of cooperating with other European countries would help achieve a Europe-wide solution to high energy costs and end the continent’s reliance on Russia fossil fuels.