The M5s community is "loyal and healthy" and would stand with the progressive camp even if its leader were not leading it, but there is a theme of "coherence" and "reliability" which concerns, instead, the composition of the alliance and the effects of the inclusion of Matteo Renzi. The day after the group photo opportunity at the 'Manifesto' party, Giuseppe Conte maintains a conversational profile but returns to ask for "guarantees" from Elly Schlein on the centrist front.
The interventions of the two follow one another first on the stage of the 'Rumore' Fanpage Festival and then at Confesercenti. And if there are conciliatory words from both on the timing and progressive "traction" ("not moderate", Schlein reiterates) of the alliance, it is the perimeter that is once again causing discussion. "I don't place personal vetoes - Conte points out - but I have asked for guarantees from the party which believes that Renzi is indispensable in this project".
The point, the five-star leader explains even more, is that "Renzi's is a presence that weakens me on an electoral level because my community suffers wherever I go, which is why I ask for guarantees from Schlein to build fences so that tomorrow it will be in a position not to cause damage".
It's not a veto, of course. But Conte makes it a question of "reliability" and asks for a strong stance. Which Schlein does not shy away from. "I have only one guarantee - he points out - that I must give to our voters: the mistakes made in 2022 will not be made again". The people of the centre-left, she adds, ask for "unity and coherence of the project" for the rest "I have never been passionate about the perimeters from acronym to acronym, the point is the vision". In short, on this point, the coldness remains even if on several other issues the distances seem to be narrowing.
Both say they are convinced that, in the end, an agreement on Ukraine can be found and that, quickly, the program can be put to work on which Avs also insists which starts with the grassroots online collection 'Let's decide together'. Not only that.
A guarantee, to be honest, comes from Conte to Schlein. Would M5S - the five-star leader is asked - support the progressive camp even if he were not the face of the prime minister candidate? "Absolutely yes: my community is a loyal, correct community and is demonstrating it throughout the peninsula in all the Municipalities" where there have been agreements and mayors of the Democratic Party and "we loyally support them". And Schlein also reiterates: "the primaries are a tool, they are not good or bad it depends on how you do them, I ran the primaries, I won them and from the next day I worked with Bonaccini and together we built a unity".
In short, the path seems to be taken but first there is the programmatic question. As Avs also reiterates with Nicola Fratoianni who sends "a warning to sailors: do we necessarily want to hold primaries? We'll get over it, but it's not that whoever wins the primaries is in charge, it's not that whoever wins the primaries is in charge and imposes his program. Is that clear?". In the meantime, we will also work on proposals to be shared in view of the maneuver as well as on the idea of motivating voters also through the battle on appeals on the electoral law.
But there is no shortage of those from the outside who view the debates on the left with extreme skepticism. "There is the 'Barnum circus'", says Carlo Calenda caustically. Which summarizes it like this: "Appendino attacks Renzi who counterattacks Appendino while Conte is arguing with Schlein - he quips - who in the meantime sees De Luca and then Bonelli ready for their own candidacy... which my father bought on the market...".
