Mathematics is not enough. This is the message that Giuseppe Conte has it delivered to the secretary of the Democratic Party. A step back, to Tuesday evening. The study is that of Giovanni Floris, Elly Schlein she is sitting in front of Lucia Annunziata. There is talk of coalitions and the new intemperates of the reluctant ally, Giuseppe Conte, on spending on armaments, on second Von der Leyen commission on the left embodied by the Democratic Party and on the “autonomous progressivism” of the Five Star Movement. “We are stubbornly unitary”, is the mantra repeated by the Dem leader, adding: “It is a mathematical choice”. The reference is to what was seen in Emilia-Romagna and Umbria where the coalition bringing together the Pd and M5s won against the centre-right coalition. The national government, however, is something else. There is a need to untie all the knots on the table. For Schlein, the key is “being together on the things that unite us: health, school, work, industrial policies, climate and rights. The oppositions are already uniting in parliament on this.” This is not the case for Conte for whom it is necessary “to develop a serious and credible proposal that has a vision and a long view, otherwise we will be stubbornly convinced of going to Chigi, but the next day we will have many difficulties, once we have taken possession of those rooms” .
The issues, therefore, starting from Ukraine. The Five Star Movement, the former prime minister reiterates, is against investing 500 billion in armaments, as the European Union proposes to do. It would mean, explains Conte, “bordering on the Third World War”. A position that reignites tensions between the reformists of the Democratic Party and the delegation of the 5 Star Movement to the European Parliament. The Dem MEP lights the fuse Pina Picierno for which Conte “has the same position as Salvini. Evidently certain loves never end, they make immense rounds and then return”, underlines the dem referring to the Conte I government, when Lega and M5s sat together at Palazzo Chigi. “On Ukraine” the M5s “continues to vote like the leader of the League. In a different way not only from the Democratic Party, but also from Carola Rakete, who is on the Left and certainly cannot be defined as a warmonger”, concludes Picierno.
The M5s in Brussels responds via social media, defining Picierno’s “bar tone” used against Conte. And the Five Star Movement explains: “We have presented a letter to propose transforming the 500 billion war fund, on which the Commission is working, into a fund for automotive and competitiveness: these are the citizens’ priorities. Implying that Conte does not understand the Englishman denotes a not too latent nostalgia for Renzi’s ‘shocks’. It is the citizens who are shocked, who see the Democratic Party voting with Meloni for a war commission, which renounces the Green Deal and which it espouses. austerity”. Words that do not escape the PD parliamentarians who, like Filippo Sensiare at the forefront of defending the choice of aid to Kiev. “Rocco, get out of this body”, writes Sensi on social media referring to Rocco Casalino, Giuseppe Conte’s spokesperson at the time of the yellow-green government. “The right. Solidarity with Pina Picierno”. Shortly afterwards, the Democratic Party senator, Simona Malpezzi, also intervened: “I agree with everything that Pina Picierno said in a very courageous interview. And on the topic of aid to Ukraine it is very simple: either you are with democracy or you are with Putin. To the citizens the truth must be told. And that fund is for peace, not for war.” The senator dem, Valeria Valente observes that “offending is a sign of weakness of one’s own reasons. Contrary to what the M5s in Europe thinks, Pina Picierno’s interview responds to coherence and courage. We are Europeans and we defend democracy: therefore let’s not leave Ukraine alone. We leave populism about war to you.”
Then in the evening the conflict shifts to internal issueswith the Save-Milan bill: “What is most surprising is that there are signatures on this text even from forces that are in this progressive camp”, says Conte in a press conference alluding to the Democratic Party: “Withdraw those signatures if you want build a government alternative. Leave this stuff to the most reactionary right that could be conceived, the most restorative that could be imagined, get on the right side, come to the progressive side of this battle, come and take it on. fight with us and with our friends at Avs, who were also very clear on the point.”
Looking at the declarations, the road to the centre-left coalition seems more uphill than ever. Yet, from a high-ranking PD leader, they come signals of trust. In front of the Democratic Party, the reasoning goes, months begin without any particular electoral appointments. We will vote in Genoa, of course, and in Ravenna. But for the Regionals we will have to wait until autumn, if not later. Not to mention the policies, expected – barring surprises that would be appreciated by the Dems – in 2027. There is time to bridge the gap and build the alternative. And then, it is added, we need to look at the things that are done, before looking at the things that are said. The reference is to the council just launched, and without too many problems, by Michele De Pascale in Emilia-Romagna. Council in which Pd, M5s and Avs sit together. And soon, the Democrats are convinced, the one in Umbria will also be launched. “Conte is also aware of this, although he pretends not to know it”, observes a PD parliamentarian. Among the Democrats most critical of the M5S leader, those from the reformist area, there is the belief that the former prime minister is scientifically seeking a clash with the Democratic Party to underline the radical nature of the movement born from the just concluded constituent assembly and the repetition of the vote that sanctioned the break with the Grillina era. A game of mirrors with which the M5s would try to reiterate its values. Whether this strategy will work will be revealed in the weeks and months ahead, through polls.