Brussels - Europe's socialists Wednesday backed left-of-centre candidate Walter Veltroni in Italy's general election, saying his  can help the country make a "fresh start."

"I give my full support to the Partito Democratico and to the leadership of Walter Veltroni," Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, president of the European Parliament's Socialist Group (PES), wrote in a message to Veltroni.

"Italians have so much vitality and creativity, but they have been badly let down by the political system. They need a new hope," Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark, wrote. "I believe that the Partito Democratico is that hope," he added.

Veltroni's Democratic Party was borne from the merger of the former communist Democratici di Sinistra and a centrist formation known as the Daisy Party.

Its leader prefers to describe himself as a "reformist" rather than a "lefty", and the party's members currently sit in different parliamentary groups - the PES and the liberals - in the European Parliament.

Most opinion polls published before last week's media blackout showed Veltroni's Democratic Party trailing behind Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Popolo della Liberta (People of Freedom).

But experts nevertheless expect a tight race, particularly in the upper house of parliament, the Senate.

In his message, Rasmussen also praised Veltroni for fielding a high number of female and young candidates in a country where politics is traditionally dominated by old men.

"The Partito Democratico is a political renewal, a fresh start," Rasmussen wrote.

Italians will go to the polls on Sunday and Monday.