anger (and embarrassment) in the Movement. “Only specious attacks” – Corriere.it

The leader’s holidays put the Movement. The controversy over Giuseppe Conte’s holidays in Cortina invested the ranks of starred parliamentarians, who were largely “surprised” by the controversy. There are those who reply that he too should have gone on holiday to the same location, but that the trip was then cancelled. Who avoids answering, who half-jokingly replies with emojis with disconsolate smileys, who – piqued by the request – asks to be consulted on other topics. In short, the question is “hot”.

In reality, the majority of parliamentarians side with the leader firmly, but avoid making public statements. On the other hand, Conte himself hasn’t tweeted anything and hasn’t made posts since December 31st, i.e. from the day the shot from Dagospia was published: a kind of record of silence (the starry president had, for example, made two posts only on Christmas day). The strategy, not too implicit, is clear:
do not feed the political controversy
.

Some starred do not hold back and wall in defense of the president: «It is clear to the parliamentarians that they no longer know what to invent to attack Conte. But these are ridiculous attacks. The commitment to the fight against poverty cannot be measured with the tenor of a holiday». Other exponents of the Movement prefer to throw it on the political side: «But with all the problems that exist at the moment, we are racking our brains over whether it is right to spend holidays in one place or another? Let’s rather think about the serious issues and the answers to be given to the country”. Some M5S long-running recalls the past: «The years go by, but for our detractors we are always stuck at the same point. Indeed, we have gone back to the time when they attacked us for the houses of Grillo ». Yet there are those who also admit: “The controversy is pretext, but we were wrong to communicate certain issues in certain ways.” A mini-self-criticism, also because nobody wants to “linger any longer”.

The time horizon of the controversy, the party assures, is destined to be short-lived: “We have lots of news coming soon: luckily this media storm will end within a few hours”. In reality, the reference is to two votes that will involve the starred militants. The first is scheduled for tomorrow and concerns the choice of candidate councilors for the Lazio and Lombardy regional councils. The second should be held early next week and will focus on the new rules for returns and the new code of ethics.

As anticipated by Corriere in November, most of the funds will be destined for the association that holds the ranks of the Movement. While at the level of internal rules, it is possible that any automatic sanctions will no longer be triggered for those who do not return the portion of the end-of-term allowance. But the final tweaks to the rules are still ongoing.