Analysis
Giuseppe Conte is everyone’s opposition
Those in the PD who thought that after the long winter of discontent with the clash with Grillo, Conte would become a more pliable ally are having to eat their words: after getting rid of the party’s founder, Conte has become even more aggressive.
“Excuse me, Mr. President, but are you on the left?” Mario Sechi asked Giuseppe Conte mischievously on stage at Atreju. The right wingers’ guest and political adversary drew a packed hall – the only opposition leader present at the festival, for whom Meloni approved a one-hour solo interview, something unheard of before. When confronted with the question, Conte stalled: “It's a complicated argument.”
There was grumbling from the right-wing militants in the audience. But the M5S leader found a rhetorical direction to go on the attack: “If the left means fighting this government only in the name of anti-fascism, I'm not in.” Thunderous applause. “If it means welcoming everyone into the country indiscriminately, I'm not in.” Even louder applause. “If it means only worrying about those who live in the historical city centers, I'm not in.” Applause and laughter. “Mr. President, are you about to get yourself an FdI membership card?” was the sarcastic quip from the editor of Libero.
Then Conte tried to course-correct to some extent: “We are independent progressives. We have a different vision than the right and we’re working for a government alternative based on the fight against injustice, corruption, and for the values of honor and discipline. This is the primary vocation of the M5S.”
Those in the PD who thought that after the long winter of discontent with the clash with Grillo, Conte would become a more pliable ally are having to eat their words: after getting rid of the party’s founder, Conte has become even more aggressive. Among the center-left, the day had begun with Chiara Appendino railing against Schlein from the pages of La Stampa: “She has betrayed the progressive values.”
The PD leader, in her speech to the PD general assembly that took place during the same days, had tried to relaunch her “stubbornly unity-minded” appeal: “We cannot spend this year each minding our own business and postponing the job of building an alternative, which we owe to our people, to the eve of the next political elections. At the protests, they are shouting ‘unity’ at us. We must not use our differences as cudgels.” On her part, she showed that she made progress in this work by deciding to have “Unity” – also the name of the historic newspaper L’Unità – written on the new PD membership card for 2025, replacing Berlinguer's face for the 2024 one. For now, at least, she has managed to elicit some unity in her support within the PD, although her promise of “radical discontinuity” with the previous era of the party is still rubbing some the wrong way.
However, the M5S leader is far from such an orientation, dancing to his own tune. On Saturday, he nonchalantly went from the protest against Meloni's Security Bill (where he received some hearty boos) to the Atreju stage at Circo Massimo. He switched between the persona of the Conte 1 and Conte 2 governments in the space of a handful of minutes. Speaking before the FdI people, he reiterated that “we will not be the second fiddle or junior partner to anyone. We are not in favor of an organic alliance with the PD, because it would distort our own fights. If it comes to that, we’ll see in due time whether the conditions are present for an alliance.”
About the possible appearance of former Revenue Agency director Ernesto Maria Ruffini onto the scene as a possible “federalizer” to unite the center-left, or as the leader of the centrist wing, Conte complained that “there is the feeling that this is an operation set up in a smoke-filled room by the PD, which is planning this not only for its own benefit, but also in order to have many forces around it, to build a sense of a chorus of agreement through underlings, second fiddles.”
Conte appeared to position himself as the opposition to a PD government, a situation in which he has never actually found himself in his whole career in politics. He also launched some broadsides about the PD’s 2022 campaign: “It was ‘red against black,’ but it’s not up to any party to set itself up as the one that issues certificates of democratic legitimacy.” The Atreju audience ate it up. He also indulged in some statements of opposition towards Meloni: “If I were an FdI voter, I would be very disappointed by Meloni's twists and contortions. She can’t pretend that everything is fine in Italy.”
“If Meloni is really the most powerful leader in Europe,“ he added, ”I expect her to make the most of this situation, given the difficulties in France and Germany. I am accusing her of giving up the fight on the new stability package that will cost us 13 billion a year in austerity.” The NRRP was also discussed: “It's 209 billion in debt,” Sechi stressed. “So why is Meloni using it if it’s not good,” Conte retorted. “The truth is that Italy is at a standstill. There are no measures for growth, but only for weapons, and the only construction sites working are thanks to NRRP funds.”
The M5S leader also went on the attack on the minimum wage: “You don't want it while you’re increasing ministers' salaries” (at least on this point, he is in full agreement with Schlein); on the GDP growth cut to 0.5%; on the “Save Milan” bill (“ What are you getting out of it?”); and on China: “You cancelled the Silk Road and now Meloni is going to China with hat in hand.” And then, he got the first real boos from the right-wing audience. Conte asked the FdI for support in pushing for negotiations in Ukraine, to put a stop to escalation, stressing that right-wingers are not excited at the prospect of sending more arms to Zelensky. “I still feel like an advocate of the people against the arrogance of power,” he insisted.
Then he put the carrot aside and turned fully to the stick: “Meloni had presented herself as the leader of a neoconservative right, but with the Security Bill, there is a reactionary drift.” “Why do you want to suppress dissent? Do you need this in order to govern? Security is not the prerogative of the right. Bring back to Italy the policemen you sent to Albania!”
His speech ended with a round of polite applause, followed by the first notes of Mariah Carey's “All I Want for Christmas.” “Not many boos? Then I should be worried,” Conte quipped. Milei was on his way to speak. The skating rink was full. “The right is so good at skating over things,” Schlein commented. “They live in the fabulous world of ‘Ameloni,’ while reality looks otherwise.”
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/conte-superospite-ad-atreju-non-si-fa-opposizione-sullantifascismo on 2024-12-15