As one circle closes, that is, the primaries are now taken for granted, another opens, and concerns the time it will take to hold them. A few days ago, the Organization manager of the Democratic Party Igor Taruffi, a close collaborator of the secretary Elly Schlein, spoke of "the beginning of next year". An indication that did not satisfy the president of the M5s Giuseppe Conte: "We must hurry", he replied. It's not a matter of days. The M5s fears that the Democratic Party wants to move forward, perhaps March or April. And instead Conte has a tighter timetable in mind: "We are ready to talk about the program."
Even in the Democratic Party the watchword is: "We are ready". But Conte's words are read by looking at the calendar. Meanwhile, on October 18th there will be a meeting to extend the mandate of secretary Elly Schlein, which otherwise would expire in March, in the midst of the election campaign. On the same day, Avs will present its proposals. From then on, every day is a good day to convene the program table, but finding agreements on which forces to involve in the coalition and then on issues such as Ukraine will not be a walk in the park. It takes a while, these are physiological times - is the reasoning in the groups of PD parliamentarians - thinking of succeeding before the start of 2027 is difficult. But Conte is pressing. "When a path is chosen it must be pursued, also for clarity with the electorate - he said - It's not like we can remain there indefinitely in total uncertainty".
Also because Conte thinks that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni does not intend to vote in the autumn of 2027, at the end of the legislature: "I think it is quite probable that there will be political elections in the spring", he explained, "the timing is dictated by the need to be ready and prepared" for the polls, "we cannot arrive close to the electoral campaign and still talk about primaries".
The question of timing is open, despite Conte and Schlein meeting a few days ago to take stock. On that occasion, Conte said, "I invited Schlein to consider, given the concern about the primaries among some of the electorate, taking a step back from all the party leaders to propose a third figure", but "there is no such availability for her". And therefore, since the M5S is not available to choose as its leader the leader of the party that will get the most votes in the elections - as the Democratic Party requests - the only path that brings the two allies to agreement is that of the primaries. Also because the leaders of the Democratic Party are certain that the secretary will win, while in the M5s there is the belief that the most competitive is Conte. In short, there is still a lot to agree on: "We will talk about it with the allies, same thing on the methods and times", said Conte. Because there is also the issue of online voting, which the M5s demands while part of the Democratic Party would prefer to do without it.
That the path is still to be defined was demonstrated by the comings and goings in the Transatlantic in the Chamber. With long and dense dialogues, like the one between Taruffi and one of Conte's close collaborators, Samir Hassan. And the small groups, like the one with Taruffi, the leader of the Pd group in the Chamber Chiara Braga and Schlein's spokesperson, Flavio Alivernini. While Schlein and Conte, both in the Chamber for the votes of confidence on the electoral law, exchanged greetings. In the coming days, there will be no shortage of opportunities to see each other calmly. Together with the Avs leaders, they will both be at the Il Manifesto party in Rome on Saturday and at the Fanpage party on Sunday morning, also in the capital. The hard core of the progressive alliance will take the stage. But a box remains to be filled: in fact, a precise geography of the centrist world is missing. In addition to two structured parties such as IV and Più Europa, new realities are being added. Like Progetto Civico by Alessandro Onorato, born in June, and Più Uno, the party of Ernesto Maria Ruffini and the former police chief Franco Gabrielli, which will be born on Saturday.
