Conte’s battle to stay in the saddle, while Raggi paws on the sidelines

There comes a point in the life of a political leader when it is time to step aside. We are not talking about the oxidizable couple Matteo Renzi-Carlo Calenda, which seems destined to separate with the consequent, probable, extinction of what has been renamed Third Pole with an unfortunate journalistic term. No, this time we are talking about a leader who seemed destined to cross all the waves unscathed, to jump from one majority to another without ever having to pay a pledge. We are talking about Giuseppe Conte. Yes, Giuseppe Conte who is now trying to get back in the saddle putting the Democratic Party in difficulty on the Rome waste-to-energy plant which is very dear to the mayor Roberto Gualtieri. First of all, it is not certain that the move by the former prime minister will be successful (even if Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni are trying hard to give him a hand to corner the dem secretary who steals votes from them too) and then even if his initiative were to go through, by now at the European elections most of the voters will have forgotten that issue. And in the meantime Schlein with one of the contortions that are now habitual to her will be able to put together goat and cabbage, that is ultra environmentalists and realistic environmentalists.

The Europeans, it was said. Yes because that’s the goal. And if before Giuseppe Conte aimed at that electoral appointment to be able to overtake the Democratic Party and take the leadership of the opposition into his own hands, now the former prime minister’s goal is much less ambitious. And that is to still arrive in the saddle at the European elections. And yes, because the way things are going, Conte runs the risk not only of not assuming the leadership of the opposition but also of losing that of the 5 Star Movement. Really? Yes, even. The strategists who for now urge him, encourage him, advise him and write well about him are already thinking about the after Conte. And on the sidelines a future leader of is already training: Virginia Raggi. The mayor of Rome who certainly hasn’t done well in the capital, even if her shortcomings have been forgotten and now she thinks only of those of the current mayor Roberto Gualtieri, she is ready for the challenge. And there are those who think that in an Italian politics in which the leadership is now in the hands of women (see Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein) it is appropriate to put the 5-star movement on this wavelength as well. And this before the European elections, because those are now the “political” elections par excellence, where the vote of opinion still exists and where the parties measure the balance of power in their field. Therefore, even if to put it this way now it may seem like an overly futuristic leap forward, in reality this is what we are talking about behind the scenes of the M5s. Conte knows this and tries his last battle to stay in the saddle and prove that he can stay afloat with the League, with the Democratic Party, against the League, against the Democratic Party, always and in any case.