Giuseppe Conte and the M5s are the most cited ever. Elly Schlein much less, but a lot of attention for appeals and warnings. The reformists of the Democratic Party, the minority area in the party, met in Prato, at the Casa del Popolo in Coiano, to clarify red lines not to be crossed and boundaries that could also be crossed.
The first are on Ukraine: the sending of weapons must continue, that's not what this is about. The latter are in the primaries, with the request for a double shift and the consequent opening of a scenario: not only Schlein, but also a reformist, is running for the Democratic Party. Almost seven hours of speeches to take stock and warn the secretary: "the Democratic Party must not fall back on Avs and M5s", summarized the mayor of Prato, Matteo Biffoni.
"We have never managed to impose a public debate in the country on things that concern Italian families - added senator Graziano Delrio - not even after the Unity celebration". And MEP Giorgio Gori: "The Democratic Party cannot afford to suffer the hegemony" of the M5s, "a party that has half of our votes". For example: they ask Schlein to go back on the law against anti-Semitism. A passage that risks leaving wounds. Former parliamentarian Emanuele Fiano, president of the Left for Israel, made it clear that he already felt he had one foot outside the party: "If the vote against is confirmed, for me it will represent an insurmountable boundary."
Nothing new about Ukraine. However, given that last week the M5s event reiterated the "no" to weapons, the Reformists event reiterated that yes. Everyone did it, from parliamentarians Lia Quartapelle and Piero Fassino to MEP Giorgio Gori. And also the leader of the area, Lorenzo Guerini, who at the end said: "We don't accept Conte's take it or leave it". A few hundred kilometers away, the president of the M5s said he had faith that "unified, courageous solutions capable of meeting the challenges of our times" will be found. But at the moment the distances are abysmal.
The primary issue was discussed in Prato with more diplomatic tones. The reformists would like them to be held in double shifts and only in person, because the online mode "risks confusion", said Guerini who, as president of Copasir, thinks about the risks of contamination of the vote on the web. The stop to virtual will have to deal with the M5s, which is definitely focusing on that. But the request for a double round - the first with more candidates, then a duel between the two best classified - will have to be dealt with by the leaders of the Democratic Party, given that it leaves the door open for a reformist to also run. It is not a painless transition: according to the party statute, the candidate is only Schlein. And she's counting on that. A possible internal competitor is Gori: more PD candidates would not be "a disaster", he said, and "I believe that if there is a reformist voice in the primaries it will be a good thing".
And then he recalled that "in 2012 Bersani opened up to allow the participation of Renzi, Tabacci, Vendola... And Letta changed the party rules to allow Schlein's participation in the congress, which he won. Nothing strange, it's in our DNA". Someone in the room watered it down a bit: "Those were something else, they were party primaries, not coalition primaries, and then it's not a given, let's see, if anything it's a hypothesis to be discussed, in support of the secretary, to give her strength in the second round".
Like Gori, Delrio also recalled the precedents: "We must not be afraid of various government proposals. It happened with Letta and Bindi when Veltroni was there, it happened with Renzi when Bersani was there. There is nothing to fear". There were many internal blows. Many to those who claim that the reformists will leave the Democratic Party: "I don't accept the caricature of the reformists as an Indian reserve of the Democratic Party", said Senator Simone Malpezzi. And Delrio: "Exit, move away and re-start is not a reformist word." As Guerini closed the day like this: "We don't accept lessons on unity from those who left in the past." Read the former Article Ones.
