The Guarantor said no: “If you want to change the mandate limit rule it will be without my consent. Because if it gives up this too, the Movement loses its soul”, is the meaning of Beppe Grillo’s reasoning to Giuseppe Conte. The meeting at the Hotel Forum between the president and the guarantor tries to restore the spirit of times gone by. When the five-star members traveled in double figures and arrived in droves at the Imperial Forums to meet King Midas of the Movement. Now up there, on the open floor of the hotel overlooking the Roman remains, there are only Conte and Grillo, president and guarantor. After the Five Stars fell below 10 percent in the European elections, the face-to-face meeting is a crisis. For the former prime minister it turns, as far as we know, into a scolding.
Conte presents himself with a relaunch plan that he has already discussed with parliamentarians. But without Grillo’s green light, it’s like swimming against the current. Grillo doesn’t want to joke: this time he isn’t wearing the astronaut helmet that he used to announce that the Grillini had arrived in Parliament. “They are no longer Martians.” Now the problem is the opposite. “How do you think he can answer you?”, He dismisses the reporters who ask him if he has a solution to revive the company.
In Conte’s plan there is the constituent assembly in the autumn, the involvement of a group of leaders alongside him, from Fico to Appendino, to Todde, to Patuanelli. A sort of “fireplace” of big names, to use an expression borrowed from the Democratic Party. And again: the modification of the mechanism for selecting candidates for political elections, a quota elected by the parliamentarians but at least half indicated by the party. This also includes the modification of the two-term limit for elected officials. Conte is not enthusiastic about this request, which comes to him in particular from parliamentarians. He agreed to make it his own as long as it serves to build loyalty in the area and create a basis of consensus. In the analysis of the European elections, the M5s leader admitted that the lists were weaker than those of other parties, starting with the Democratic Party. But this happened because those parties can count on a widespread and widespread structure. Which is difficult to create when mandate limits also apply at territorial levels. For this reason, Conte proposes to remove mayors and other local offices from the calculation of mandates. In order to create a transmission belt between the territorial levels and the national representation. In essence, the M5s leader proposes to move forward with the transformation of the Movement into a party. The first step was taken when in 2021 the statute changed with the provision of the office of president. Now he aims to complete the work.
When he enters Grillo, he knows he won’t get an unconditional green light down the line. “Don’t make films,” he tells journalists who ask him if the rules will be changed. And he was right to be cautious. Because Grillo invites us not to emphasize a single electoral result, he rather warns not to lose the specifics of the Movement. To create a widespread network across the territory, the problem is not to touch the mandate limit, but to bring direct democracy to every level, starting from the municipalities. The point was left open. Waiting for further comparison. But in Grillo’s reasoning there is also a criticism of the political line. During the electoral campaign it was necessary to make it clear that we were alternatives to Meloni, not just to Schlein. And it is there that the M5s condemned itself to a minor role. The two part with a hug, Grillo assures that he will not lack his support. But one part of the discussion is on leadership. For days there have been rumors of Chiara Appendino joining Conte. In the post-voting discussion, the former prime minister put his position on the table. “I’m not attached to the chair, I won’t be the problem,” she told parliamentarians. In the end, the M5s summit came up with the idea of a fireplace, a sort of control room alongside it. For Conte it is not a question of a commissioner, because deputies and senators are not willing to question the leader. But it remains to be understood how Grillo will want to play his role as a noble father. At this stage, every word he says will weigh like a boulder.
