the plan for the post-Conte era with Grillo’s support –

Edward Romagnoli

July 21, 2024

Virginia Raggi’s long march to gain credibility as the alternative to Giuseppe Conte’s leadership. The two do not like each other, this is no secret. Giuseppe excluded her from the 2022 parliamentary elections and from the lists for this year’s European elections, justifying the choice with the two-mandate rule that has always characterized the Movement. “Considering the zero one – Conte explained – she is still serving a third term”. She replied that she was not the victim of an exclusion but that she chose not to run for Parliament due to “opposition to structural alliances and progressive camps with traditional parties”. And it is precisely the alliance with the Dems that is fueling the internal feud between progressives and orthodox in the 5 Star Movement. On one side there are Conte and his followers who would like to evolve with respect to the original values ​​that inspired the Movement. The grillino vice president Mario Turco perfectly summarized the new course: “We are now a government force that has participated in three executives. I think the hard-liners phase ended a long time ago.”

On the other hand, there are Raggi, Dario Tamburrano, Danilo Toninelli, Riccardo Ricciardi, Gilda Sportiello and Dario Carotenuto who would like to bring the Movement back to the “alone against all” strategy that allowed the grillini to get a lot of votes in 2018. The strength of the anti-Conte fringe is certainly that of having the support of the putative father of the Movement: Beppe Grillo who has never been a fan of Conte. His jabs are now famous, Conte the hologram, Conte who got fewer votes than Berlusconi when he was dead, without forgetting the summary he made the day after the defeat of the European elections: “Conte has vaporized the 5 Star Movement”. It is no coincidence that in his Roman forays to the Hotel Forum, the Ligurian comedian wanted to meet Raggi in private, ignoring the 5 Star Movement leader. But Grillo is not the only one to appreciate the exponents of the old course.

Even Roberto Casaleggio’s son, Davide, said about the former mayor of Rome: «Raggi and Di Battista have remained faithful to themselves and their commitments». It must be said that about Di Battista, who is no longer in the Movement, Grillo suggested to Raggi: «You must be neither too close nor too far from Alessandro». A piece of advice that Virginia has taken on board, apart from the demonstration on June 28th for Palestine and a few fleeting appearances at banquets organized by the Schierarsi association (Dibba’s new creation) there has been no more public occasion to see them together. Now things could change. If the Renzi-Schlein agreement were to actually materialize, Conte could step aside and return to the very arms of those who have been suggesting he abandon the path of the Nazarene for some time. The gap between Raggi and Conte supporters is not only deepened by the PD issue. Conte is also being contested for sending weapons to Kiev, while Raggi promoted a referendum to prevent Italy from arming Ukraine. And the former mayor would like to bring back one of the five battles that characterized the 1.0 Movement: environmentalism, a dossier on which Conte certainly does not stand out in terms of initiative.