Grillo claims the "right to the extinction of the Movement"but Conte replies "more alive than ever"

The guarantor claims as “creator” the right to the extinction of a Movement that has now “evaporated” at the hands of its current leader defined as the “Wizard of Oz” and then invited to “found his own party”.

“We are more active than ever”, replies the M5s president, relaunching the path of the constituent assembly as a breath of fresh air and a renewal. Beppe Grillo – whose contract from 300 thousand euros per year as ‘communicator’ he will not be renewed – he takes back the stage by renewing the clash with Giuseppe Conte with a four-minute video (titled “Compostable Movement!”) published late in the morning on his blog. A divorce now consummated so much so that both duelists never directly pronounce the opponent’s name. Informal look, the bookshop in the background, Grillo framed half-length attacks: “I claim, as creator of the Movement, my right to the extinction of the Movement” itself.

“When I see this 5 Star flag, with the Wizard of Oz in front of it, talking about direct democracy, it gives me a pit in my stomach.” The invitation to Conte is to “do his best” with “his poster with his beautiful, nice, sincere face, with the writing ‘Oz and his 22 mandates‘, it can reach 8% and then maybe if it goes to Fassino and gets a prophecy made it can even reach 15%”.

Then the jab just on the eve of regional elections in Liguria and in view of the polls in Emilia Romagna. “The usual games of old politics” are guilty, claims the co-founder of the 5 Star Movement, of running candidates “catapulted from above. This is not a democracy from below, it is a low democracy”. An attack returned to the sender by Giuseppe Conte who, when asked in the late afternoon in Parma by journalists, does not want to be ‘buried’ by his rival and, on the contrary, relaunches claiming the renewal and vitality of the Movement

“Today – underlines the M5s president – there is important news for the 5 Star Movement, that is, today is the last session and, in these hours, the deliberative confrontation the second phase of this constituent process. There are many of our members – explains Conte – but also young minors and even non-members who are contributing to deepening through a deliberative comparison all the proposals that have arrived and then organizing questions to be put to the vote in the final meeting of members. Well, in my opinion this is the most significant moment of an experiment that no political force has carried out. We have questioned ourselves, we are renewing ourselves, re-oxygenating ourselves and – concludes the former prime minister – we are truly more active than ever”.

Yet another conflict between president and guarantor makes the questions about the future structure of the Movement even stronger. Starting from the fate of the M5s logo which could open another front of conflict. And, in this scenario, Grillo evokes a transformation for his creature. “We all know, the Movement is no longer there, it has evaporated. However – he says in the video – perhaps this evaporation turns into a tornado, a cyclone, something I don’t know. I only know that the Movement is not biodegradable, it is compostable, it still contains humus, sugars, proteins. Inside – insists the guarantor – there are still wonderful ideas, of rethinking the world too rethink and we instead reiterate this now dead policy. We have – he concludes – candidates who are between the past and the past”.