“Conte is shrewd; he’s rewriting the meaning of the primaries and has checkmated Schlein.” Parenzo speaks

A checkmate for the broad coalition. “There’s not much to say: Conte has made the knight’s move,” smiles David Parenzo. “It’s not the heat talking when the leader of the M5S puts substance before form. Paradoxically, he has torn away the veil of hypocrisy surrounding the issue of primaries: if we finally wish to understand them as they are in the United States, where even vastly different world views compete right down to the last vote, Conte makes this initiative not a fiction but a real event. Because until now – let’s be honest – here they’ve been little more than a figment of the imagination.” Schlein replied: first we must agree on a shared programme; then we’ll consider the primaries. “But then what are centre-left voters supposed to decide? Just who leads the coalition? That would be superfluous, because the ballot box already determines that: whoever gets the most votes governs. Conte, on the other hand, is turning the tables. I don’t agree with his position on Ukraine. But he is demonstrating great shrewdness and political wisdom.”

And indeed, alarm bells are already ringing within the Democratic Party: to end up relegated to the role of the Movement’s lackeys, despite having far greater electoral clout, would be a travesty. “I’ve read the statements made by various figures, from Bonaccini to Franceschini,” continues the journalist and television presenter. “I understand the position of those who are dissatisfied, the need to agree on certain shared pillars in good time – including foreign policy. But Conte is pushing the PD to a crossroads: enough of small compromises or superficial agreements. The leader is also the one who sets the line, and the other parties fall into line. At the same time, I understand Schlein’s dilemmas when she stubbornly defines herself as a unifier: the centre-left electorate demands unity, and she complies. But the electorate also wants clarity. And the genuine revival of the primaries makes things really interesting.” What do you mean? “You may like Conte or not, but he said something well-thought-out and revolutionary: mark 2 August in your diaries, because the broad coalition will no longer be what it was before. Even more so if Di Battista were to enter the fray too, pressing the other parties to take a more radical stance. There you go: perhaps that’s also why the lawyer was in such a hurry to stake his claim on Ukraine.” For him, it’s a win-win. For Elly, a puzzle. Yet another one.