Other issues with the broad coalition’s programme. The infrastructure conundrum

What about the waste-to-energy plant? And the infrastructure? “We’ll discuss that.” Later on. For the time being, this issue has remained off the radar. The slogan “No to the bridge over the Strait” – on which everyone agrees – is enough. If anything, it will be a question of deciding where to redirect those resources. Meanwhile, the broad coalition has plenty else on its mind, with Giuseppe Conte in ‘permanent prime ministerial candidate’ mode, shuttling between the Chamber of Deputies and election-style initiatives; Elly Schlein convening her executive committee (the budget is on the agenda, though discussions are still ongoing as we write), and the red-green duo – Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli – grappling with the organisation of the joint demonstration in December, juggling talks in the Chamber of Deputies with the M5S leader and a schedule more complicated than anticipated: 19th is already Christmas. On Saturday 12 December there is the USB march in Rome, while the weekend of the 5th is a pre-holiday weekend. They will be looking to slot the event in between these last two dates.

In short, there are more pressing priorities, so the issue of infrastructure and major projects may not be addressed straight away, and specifically, at the now-famous programme roundtable, which is due to begin in the next few hours. The first phase, as is well known, will be entrusted to the group leaders, acting as sherpas. It will then be up to the leaders to resolve the final, thorniest issues. However – despite broad areas of agreement – these cannot be reduced solely to Ukraine, even though that is the most decisive issue. We have had a taste of this with the wealth tax proposed by Avs, on which the PD has shown some openness but which Conte considers somewhat ‘ideological’. He prefers ‘Reddito 2.0’, in a ‘revised’ version. Meanwhile, from the Nazareno – at least from an economic perspective – no defining proposal has yet emerged, although many within the PD are calling for a minimum wage. For the rest, to find a compromise acceptable to more or less everyone, there is the vocabulary already used in Parliament during debates on motions and resolutions. It might prove useful, it was said, even when saying ‘No to the bridge’ is no longer enough. On the other hand, infrastructure is an issue destined to take centre stage later on. All the more so if the centre-left’s programme is to be consistent with the political proposals of the broad coalition in the cities – and there are many – from Rome to Milan, Turin and Naples, the most important of which will hold elections in the spring. For example, there is the major issue of the TAV: in the Piedmontese capital in recent weeks, MPs Chiara Appendino of the M5S and Marco Grimaldi of AVS took to the streets to protest against the Turin–Lyon line. Meanwhile, the mayor, the Democrat Stefano Lo Russo (seeking re-election, allies permitting), has always declared himself “in favour” of the TAV, the construction of which, incidentally, is not merely a local issue. Not to mention the centrists, who take a very different approach from that of AVS and the M5S; for the PD, there is also a twofold problem: with regard to its allies, of course, but also within the party itself, given its various factions – the reformists, but also the very large contingent of local administrators guided by a more pragmatic approach.

Then there is the issue of waste management. And how can we forget that the M5S (also) withdrew from the Draghi government over the Rome waste-to-energy plant? Yesterday, Conte (speaking at the launch of the book L’internazionale della terra with the author Giuseppe De Marzo, in front of around fifty sixth-formers) defended the ecological transition and the Green Deal, before launching into a scathing critique of the ‘market god’. A market that thinks only of rearmament and has never addressed ‘the problem of waste and rubbish’, which is, in fact, a hallmark of capitalism. In their new programme, the Five Star Movement speaks of the “gradual phasing out of incinerators”. Paradoxically, the one in Rome – and the agreement for Gualtieri’s second term seems to be a done deal – has not yet been built and, if all goes well, will be completed in 2029. In Tuscany, too, the broad coalition had discussed waste-to-energy plants. And again within Eugenio Giani’s council, at the end of September, there had been disagreements (between the M5S and AVS) over a resolution concerning the development of Florence Airport. Meanwhile, a few days earlier, the majority supporting the Democratic Party mayor Carnevali in Bergamo had been divided over a similar measure regarding Bergamo Airport. Minor hints, perhaps, but indicative of what the debate within the broad coalition might look like. Another bone of contention?