On the eve of the debate on the manifesto, Schlein is seeking a compromise on aid to Ukraine without allowing Conte to have a monopoly on the pacifist stance. Also on the table are the format of the primaries, safeguards against interference and the role of the centrists in the future coalition.

“We really hope we can sit down at the table. We need a coherent plan to ensure we have a five-year parliamentary term,” says the leader of the M5S. “A name for a European negotiator? I’ve got one; it would suit the United States, Russia and China, but I won’t say who it is so as not to jeopardise their chances.” And what about the wealth tax? “It’s never worked; I’ll take the figures to Bonelli and Fratoianni.”

This time, the Prime Minister’s words reveal the backbone of a party aiming to secure over thirty per cent of the vote; there is a manifesto that the left is still struggling to draft; and there is a strategy that some call the ‘cannibalisation’ of allies, but which is in fact yet another gamble: the need to cover the centre, the right, and the centre-right.

The PD secretary and the M5S leader remain at odds over Kyiv, the timing of the primaries and the style of the manifesto (detailed or brief). Behind the promises to speed up the formation of the anti-Meloni alliance, mistrust and tensions are growing, making it difficult to reach a consensus.

“We cannot accept the notion that Zelensky’s side is adopting a purely defensive stance, because they too have for some time been carrying out various attacks and bombings that have affected civilians,” said the former prime minister

The leader of the Five Star Movement, speaking on the ‘one is worth one’ principle, brings up rearmament: “‘One is worth one’ means that what counts are the citizens who say ‘enough’ to this military escalation”. The green wing of AVS is the most critical: an incorrect statement, “listen to the arguments”. Renzi, speaking at the Leopolda, defends Schlein: “I agree with her from A to Z”