Giuseppe Conte arrived at the Festa dell’Unità in Reggio Emilia the day after the warm welcome given by the Pd people to Matteo Renzi, a traveling companion that the M5s would gladly do without. So much so that to the leader of Italia viva, who had offered him to have a coffee together from Milan, Conte responded sarcastically: “No, I can’t at this time, then I can’t sleep.”
The relaunch of the primaries
Greeted with long applause, Conte relaunched the primaries. He did it in a context that was not exactly prepared: shortly before, from the same stage, the mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi and the deputy Roberto Speranza had rejected them. «What do we do? – said Conte – Shall we meet in some secret room? Shall we have some fireplace after having told all the progressive people that they will decide who is the best or the best interpreter?”.
And then: asking if he will be loyal if he loses them «is offensive – said Conte –. If anyone thinks it’s a question of personal ambition, they are wrong, I am at the service of a progressive project. If we were in a government that wasn’t doing progressive things, that’s the problem.”
«Do you want to stop in Renzi?»
In short, yes to the primaries, but Renzi also no. «Renzi has his own influence on the electorate which seems to me to be well limited, do you want to go further or do you want to stop at Renzi? If we want to win and we want to win.” The leader of the M5s instead blatantly embraced the cause of Alessandro Onorato’s Civic Project. «You always ask me about Renzi, we can’t stand it anymore. This way you will make him unpleasant. But should we broaden this political space or do we want to narrow it? Onorato united hundreds of civic administrators and created a grassroots movement.”
The knot of signatures
A choice of field that marks a distance from the Democratic Party. Because the suspicion is circulating in the M5s that Elly Schlein has an eye for Renzi and will not tear her clothes for Progetto civico which, with the new rules of the electoral law, risks not being able to stand in the 2027 elections. Onorato explained why: «The new political forces will be obliged to collect 370 thousand signatures in just 15 days, divided by 6 thousand signatures for each constituency. It means artfully creating obstacles.”
To make matters worse, there are the very cold relations between Renzi and Onorato. The leader of Italia viva renamed it “the generic drug of the M5s”. And he reciprocated: «Renzi was the protagonist of an important, but past, season». In short, new reasons for friction in the center-left. Even if the president of the Democratic Party, Stefano Bonaccini, tried to tone it down: «The number of signatures that has been expected is enormous also from the point of view of its constitutionality. In any case, we are not for Renzi or Onorato, we are for the country.”
In Campobasso the center without Renzi
While in Reggio Emilia they were discussing who should be at the centre, at the PSI party in Campobasso they were discussing who should be at the centre. And no one was talking about Renzi. «It is possible to follow a common path with Enzo Maraio’s PSI and with Riccardo Magi and the Radicals», explained Onorato. Maraio of the PSI also mentioned «Onorato e Magi», but not Renzi.
To be honest, not even Più Uno by Ernesto Maria Ruffini and Primavera by Vincenzo Spadafora. Those, coincidentally, who instead cited Renzi as traveling companions of Italy alive when, right at the Festa dell’Unità in Reggio Emilia, he announced a step back, saying he was ready to look for someone else to sit at the table for the program with Pd, M5s and Avs, mentioning the names of the mayor of Genoa Silvia Salis or the mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi. Manfredi showed no enthusiasm: “I always said that I would contribute ideas, but nothing more than that.”
The wait for Schlein
In the meantime, in Reggio Emilia, great preparations are underway for the closure of Schlein. At the Festa dell’Unità there is a rumor that the secretary could speak from the stage of the Campovolo Arena, next door, the stage for mega concerts with a capacity – according to the Municipality’s website – of over 100 thousand people. We don’t expect so many, but if the turnout is still large, at that point, to give an adequate response, some kind of announcement will be needed.