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ROME, ITALY - OCTOBER 13: The new Italian parliament emerged from last month’s national elections met for the first time Thursday to elect the speakers of the two chambers, amid worries that growing divisions within the winning right-wing coalition may delay the formation of a new Cabinet. The Senate is the first chamber to elect its president, who will likely be Ignazio La Russa, an old-time ally of premier-to-be Giorgia Meloni and among the founders of her post-fascist Brothers of Italy party. The name of La Russa was agreed overnight after frantic negotiations among the center-right parties of the coalition, which won the September elections with a solid majority, but remains fractious and litigious, making Meloni’s mediating role increasingly difficult. Her two allies, the League of Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, are both pushing to keep a key role in the future government – the most conservative since World War II. The first Senate session on Thursday was presided over by Holocaust survivor and senator-for-life Liliana Segre, who used strong and clear words to remind lawmakers of the democratic values embodied by the Italian Constitution and the untouchable role of institutions, in a call for unity that was equally directed to the new right-wing majority and the left-wing opposition. Segre recalled the 100th anniversary of the fascist March on Rome – which falls on Oct. 28 – and the dark times when she – as a Jewish girl – was obliged to leave her school bench due to the racial laws approved by the fascist government. “It’s impossible for me not to feel a sort of vertigo today,” Segre said, stressing the “symbolic value” of her presence on the highest bench of the Senate on the first day of new legislation that will be dominated by far-right parties. Her long speech was interrupted several times by the senators’ applauses, including those from the Brothers of Italy party. (Footage by Baris Seckin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)