The Albanese CharterThe Albanese Charter. The AVS proposal is causing concern amongst the PD and M5S. And Conte is having lunch with Bonelli and Fratoianni

It is the hidden card that shuffles the pack. And it is causing concern for Elly Schlein and Giuseppe Conte. Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli have responded with two interviews, hinting that if the party is really going to hold primaries, we’ll join in too. And it will be a ‘surprise’. No names have been mentioned yet, but the concern between the Nazareno and Via di Campo Marzio has taken the form of Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur and a symbol of the battle for Gaza. Yesterday, Conte spoke at length with Bonelli and then with Fratoianni as well. And Schlein? She was absent (for good reason, perhaps due to the flu?), although she was in the area nonetheless. Will there soon be a meeting with her too? “Of course, there will be a meeting on the programme,” assures the M5S leader. In the meantime, the meeting took place at the Montecitorio restaurant, a lunch lasting over an hour featuring lentil soup, the programme and the primaries. “A fruitful discussion,” says Fratoianni, though this is also fuelling some suspicion amongst the Democrats, who fear backroom deals being struck behind their backs.

There is a need to make up for lost ground and clarify matters following the private meeting between Schlein and Conte. But the former prime minister also intends to gauge the true intentions of his ‘red-green’ coalition. The path leading to Albanese is complicated, but the temptation is ‘plausible’, sources close to Avs admit. And what does the UN rapporteur think? Could she really stand for Parliament or even in the primaries? “If she has any questions about Palestine, the crimes of Israeli apartheid or the complicity of the EU and Italy, I’m available. On the rest, I have nothing to add to what I have already said”, she replies politely to Il Foglio. A few days ago, she explained that she would continue to do her job. It is the same response she gave to the AVS emissaries: no official proposal has been put forward, but the prospect of a future in politics has been raised. “For now…” no, they were told. The name of Albanese – who has a certain rapport with AVS but also attends M5S events – could, after all, completely change the landscape of the primaries (and beyond). And that is why the suggestion frightens the two main forces in the broad coalition. Meanwhile, for Avs, the fear is different: Albanese, all the more so if legitimised by the consensus (at the polling booths), would effectively become the Alliance’s third leader. This is another reason why it remains a difficult avenue to pursue, and others are being considered: the idea of a symbolic candidate is back in vogue, and the guests at Avs’s events and MPs are being scrutinised. Or perhaps one of Fratoianni or Bonelli, but even this would not come at no cost to Avs; it would mean – at least in the media – moving beyond the diarchy. It is a dilemma that the two leaders would have gladly avoided, so as to focus on the programme rather than the ‘game of three chairs’ (copyright Filippo Sensi).

It was supposed to be the week of a tough battle against the Melonellum, but instead the broad coalition has so far been marked by controversies of a completely different kind. Hopes are still pinned on the mavericks, but preparations are already underway for a protest in the Chamber. Today, before the final vote, the leaders are expected to take the floor to launch an assault on the electoral law. That is, provided this stage does not turn into yet another prelude to the primaries.