Party financing, the M5S builds a wall. And the leader blocks the opening of Patuanelli-Corriere.it

Reading the newspapers yesterday sounded particularly indigestible to the Five Star senators. The opening of their group leader in the Senate, Stefano Patuanelli, on the public financing of parties collected by Francesco Verderami on Courier
made the starry stars of Palazzo Madama jump. The group exploded, they say in the Movement, commenting on what seemed like a mini-revolt against the former minister. There are those who rattle off the posts from ten years ago published on Beppe Grillo’s blog: Parties must not manage public money. The activities can be financed with private micro donations.

That’s enough for Giuseppe Conte and at the top to understand the hint and intervene promptly to stop the escalation of internal discontent. The president contacts Patuanelli for clarification and then publishes a post that clearly and roundly stops. I say it without going around the bush: the position of the M5S has always been and remains against the public funding of the parties, writes Conte. And he continues: The M5S is the living demonstration that politics can be conducted without imposing costs on citizens. And that you can do politics without selling out your battles, in some cases putting yourself on the payroll of large lobbies or even foreign states, as some well-known parliamentarians do.

Conte underlines that that of the group leader is an opinion entirely personal, but try to avoid friction or to undermine one of your key men in the media: I heard him and he explained to me that his was a general and abstract discourse on parties and democracy. He clarified to me, however, that he would never sign a law for the public financing of political parties in today’s Italy, and with current politics. Patuanelli himself, a few hours later, reiterated the concept speaking a Daily fact.

The leaders of the Movement square with the president. One of the deputies, Michele Gubitosa, clarified: Patuanelli’s reasoning was abstract and cannot be placed in the context of Italian politics. In this regard, it is not possible to exploit anything, because the line of the M5S on party financing is very clear.

And yet, despite public walls and denialstensions remain. Several exponents sting Patuanelli and indirectly also the strategy of recent years: Someone explain to him that even the two per thousand we receive public funding?. There are also those who try to defend the group leader: The two per thousand are different. It is money that a citizen freely decides to donate. However, Patuanelli should have been more cautious on such delicate issues, say the more moderate.

Meanwhile, to make the climate in the Movement even more fiery, rumors are starting to circulate about a revision of the third term limit after the European elections. It will be a way to reward Conte’s loyalists in Italy and spend the names of the big names on Regionals and candidacies for mayor without having to absorb staff into the Movement, some say. In short, there is not only the financing of parties among the issues agitating the Movement.

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