Schlein says she is ready for a discussion with the Meloni government on the use of the 14 billion euros that Italy could use by 2028 to accelerate the energy transition.
But the opening shakes up the wide field, from Avs to the M5s. “In four years Meloni has sabotaged all environmental and climate policies in the EU and in Italy on the climate and energy issue. After the electoral hustler on car tax from Cetto La Quale, this hand reaching out to work together is incomprehensible”, highlights the leader of Avs Angelo Bonelli. And the president of the M5S Giuseppe Conte adds: “Today there are no conditions to work together with whoever, the Meloni government, said it wanted to do the drilling. Let’s go back to oil… Now Meloni is better off going home and letting us work.”
Giorgia Meloni’s response to the five proposals of the secretary of the Democratic Party certainly does not contribute to improving the climate: “I intend to delve into them without prejudice. I certainly don’t have the prejudices of the Italian opposition”. M5s and Avs ask in unison to build the alternative. But to do this we need a common program and a leader. From 2pm today, M5s members online will vote on the proposals to be submitted to the progressive coalition on twenty thematic areas: some questions are already ready, from the environment to work, others – more delicate – are being finalized. Like those on foreign policy and the posture towards the war in Ukraine which still marks the differences in the broad field (“weapons in Kiev? The Progressives are not in the arms race”, says Conte telegraphically to Dritto e Rovescio). In the background – not too much for me – there is the specter of Beppe Grillo and the rumors about his new party which could put Conte in difficulty. According to Il Fatto Quotidiano, the project is already underway and is progressing quickly (“Many young people, AI and contacts with Musk”). The former Five Star MP Marco Bella, close to “Elevato” on Facebook, neither confirms nor denies: “In his podcast there was no mention of ‘founding’ new parties” but “if Beppe also wanted to found a new political force… what would be wrong with that?”, among other things it would “never be a ‘left-wing’ party”, these are “old categories from the last millennium”, he “goes high”.
The only certainty is that he is “super-determined to take back the name and symbol of the Movement”. The legal battle is crucial for the M5s, especially in view of the upcoming policies. And Grillo, in the Pulp podcast interview, already scratches with just the first previews: “Today the Movement is something else in the hands of the Reverend Jones, the man who whispered about quibbles. The Movement which is progressive only has the paralysis of the progressive mind, they don’t have an idea… we’re going into chaos extraordinary”https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/politica/2026/09/18/energia-la-mano-tesa-di-schlein-a-meloni-agita-il-campo-largo-serve-lattiva-68f1711a-1ff3-45cb-bc72-da3c741d3389/.”I have already given”, “it is no longer a question that concerns the M5s – Giuseppe Conte replies in kind -. Grillo’s economic problems are no longer mine. We are interested in the economic problems of the Italians.”
Meanwhile, the puzzle of the centre-left primaries is far from behind us. It also grips the Democratic Party internally, with the hypothesis circulated and immediately denied of a possible double round, to have Giorgio Gori run together with secretary Elly Schlein (to attract the votes of the reformists). “When this work on the program is finished, if the primaries are the choice of the coalition, the Democratic Party will have, as is normal, only one candidate”, makes it clear the group leader in the Senate Francesco Boccia, one of the Democrats closest to Schlein. Gori “is a reformist at heart – comments Matteo Renzi – but I don’t argue in other people’s houses”. The center is also moving with Ernesto Maria Ruffini (Più Uno) announcing the transformation of Più Uno into a new political entity (appointment on 10 October in Rome): “It is not a question of simply adding another party to those that already exist – he explains -. We want to give a complete form to the work started with Più Uno around the priorities of the country and the challenges it is facing”.