Politics
The broader picture and renewables •
Following Schlein, Conte has also responded to environmentalists. What will he tell them about the Todde project?
After three months of silence, the leader of the M5S is due to meet, on 7 October, the professors and researchers who wrote to centre-left leaders in May to denounce the delay in the installation of renewable energy plants in centre-left-governed regions, particularly Sardinia, which is governed by the Five Star Movement’s Alessandra Todde.
After ignoring them for over three months, Giuseppe Conte has now also responded to the environmentalists. To be clear, this is not a handful of opponents from the broader political spectrum, but a sizeable group of over 100 researchers and university lecturers with left-wing political views who, in May, wrote to all centre-left leaders to point out that in regions governed by the PD, M5S and AVS, the delay in installing renewable energy facilities is more acute than ever. This is particularly the case in Sardinia and Tuscany. As Il Foglio had reported, for months Schlein and Conte ignored the appeal and the emails received from the researchers.
In early September, however, the PD secretary took the plunge and met with a delegation from this renewable energy lobby at the Nazareno. At the end of the meeting, she gave the regions lagging behind a stern telling-off: “We must act more swiftly where we are in government.” Now Conte is also preparing to meet with researchers and professors. The meeting is scheduled for 7 October. Joining the Five Star Movement leader in receiving the pro-renewables delegation will be the former Environment Minister and M5S MP Sergio Costa. Will Conte once again defend the actions of his former deputy, Alessandra Todde – now President of Sardinia – who has turned the battle against power stations into a personal crusade, even taking her case (unsuccessfully) all the way to the Constitutional Court?
