M5s-Pd: Conte scores a goal, but Schlein won’t change line on the waste-to-energy plant and Ukraine

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After all, the move by the president of the M5s Giuseppe Conte, who presented to the Chamber an agenda linked to the Pnrr decree which invites the government to backtrack on the Rome waste-to-energy plant wanted by the mayor of the Democratic Party Roberto Gualtieri, is the first goal scored in the match against Elly Schlein for the leading party palm of the former “wide field”. Since the movementist and environmentalist Schlein was elected secretary, she has never wanted to express herself on that waste-to-energy plant in Rome which last summer was Conte’s pretext to blow up Mario Draghi’s government together with the no to sending arms to Ukrainian resistance. And certainly the no that the Pd is preparing to vote against the agenda of the M5s (and there is also another signed by Angelo Bonelli’s Greens) will be rather indigestible for Schlein, who in the secretariat has appointed a opposite of the first hour like Annalisa Corrado.

Conte’s challenge on the incinerator and Schlein’s forced no

Yet the no of the Democratic Party is an obligatory no: it is impossible for Schlein to go against a dem executive like the former Minister of Economy and mayor of Rome Gualtieri, against the president of the party and former challenger in the primaries Stefano Bonaccini, against Areadem by Dario Franceschini who supported her in the congress and above all against at least half of the deputies with the risk of a sensational split in the group. But the resentment against Conte remains, and it is strong. As Francesco Boccia, a major sponsor of Schlein who is now group leader in the Senate, says, «this is something that a party usually does, in an obstructive way, that tries to put another party in difficulty… we oppose the Meloni government, I I hope that the other opposition parties do the same instead of creating problems for other opposition parties”.

Between M5s and Pd competition lasts at least until the 2024 Europeans

Instead, Conte wants to create problems for the Democratic Party, and how. Even in the opposition field, the dead line is the vote for the 2024 European elections, and the president of the M5s wants to contend with Schlein for space on the left to try to get back up and overtake the dem. It is also for this reason that out of 17 provincial capitals that will go to the vote in June, only 6 have seen an agreement signed between pentastellati and dem: nothing but a wide field. But Schlein has long thoughts and knows that for her the priority is to keep the party united and maintain its plurality: especially now that the Third Pole has imploded and that some votes can also be recovered from that side.

The tour of the embassies to reassure the allies about Ukraine: they are not like Conte

Schlein also knows that for a party that has the ambition to return to government, international positioning is fundamental: despite Conte also challenging it on pacifism and no to sending arms to Ukraine, the Atlanticist position impressed on the Democratic Party by Enrico Letta and who finds his reference in the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella will not change. As demonstrated by the tour of the embassies – the US, Germany and Ukraine – made in the past few hours to reiterate that the line of his party on support, including military support, for the Ukrainian resistance has not and will not change. After all, a way to distance oneself from the possible future ally Conte, who is increasingly anti-arms and increasingly critical of NATO.