Wide shot, Fico strengthens relations with the Democratic Party in exchange for De Luca’s seat –

Aldo Torchiaro

August 12, 2024

Giuseppe Conte and Beppe Grillo are at loggerheads. In a torrid summer, theirs is the “cold war” that is being discussed in the 5 Star chats. The Movement has moved entirely to Whatsapp: in the summer of politics, between L’Unità parties, Meetings and festivals of all kinds, the M5S is trying to spend the hot season staying in the shade. The papers are being prepared. The leader is looking to the next Constituent Assembly, divided into three phases and entrusted to the organization of the Avventura Urbana company as a turning point. A moment of general reset essential to draw a line and remove the comedian from the entire management of the Movement. He resists, runs the blog in opposition to the Conte party and strengthens his network, which can count on the discontent of many of the protagonists of the first hour, subsequently “retired” by Conte.

“There are three hundred thousand reasons for tension between the two,” a former senator who knows the cards tells . The reference, not too cryptic, is to the communications consultancy that the Five Star Movement groups in Montecitorio and Palazzo Madama have committed to recognizing for the Founder. Grillo does not want to completely exit the governance of the Movement because he knows that in that case, in the near future, he could lose that prerogative. A model already applied by Conte to Casaleggio Associati, which suddenly found itself from a single point of reference for the web to “an external supplier company with which to evaluate, possibly, the opportunity for collaboration”, as the new leaders said after Di Maio’s handover.

It is true that Grillo today remains a figure little more than symbolic: as Guarantor he has no veto power over political decisions. But he does have some papers. Grillo is said to have entrusted them to the lawyers Andrea and Paola Ciannavei, who from their office on Via Nomentana (in front of Mussolini’s former private residence) have been busy settling disputes between members and the Movement since the very beginning.

But what does the Founder have in his hands? He is the sole owner of the old M5S symbol, never legally archived, and he controls the previous association Movimento Cinque Stelle, never formally ceased. Which, reading between the lines of the jealously guarded documents, appears to still be led by Luigi Di Maio.
The symbol used today by Conte is nothing more than a restyling of the first, original one. In the event of a legal dispute, it would be easy to highlight how the electoral value of Conte’s 5Stelle derives directly from the assets owned by Grillo. And so it is a question of signing a pax grillina, before it is too late. Listening, guaranteeing, satisfying everyone. Starting from those closest to the Founder: Virginia Raggi teams up with Grillo and Davide Casaleggio. With Alessandro Di Battista, whose return could confer a dowry to the Movement. And with Roberto Fico.

Yes, the former Speaker of the House seems to be off the political radar. In reality, he is working on a certain plan. Also thanks to the good offices of his father, a former bank executive of weight, he has strengthened relations with the Nazarene and made it known that he, starting from his Campania, is there. He would be there. And if Vincenzo De Luca were to be convinced to take a step back, here is his availability to lead the coalition of the broad field: Roberto Fico would gladly run as governor of Campania, downstream of a national agreement in the Movement between Conte and Grillo and even before the two emerging women, Raggi on the side of the Founder and Alessandra Todde on that of Conte, can claim a change of female leadership.