From Rome
After the recent Italian municipal elections in which the Five Star Movement (M5S) saw the consensus achieved decrease considerably, this week another problem was added that has crisis the party created by the comedian Beppe Grillo and that it could also have consequences for the government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi – of which the M5S is a part – at a time of total instability due to the war in Ukraine.
The criticism of the M5S aimed last week against the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi di Maioa member of the Movement, because he is in favor of sending new weapons from Italy to Ukraine, which the M5S widely rejects emphasizing the need to intensify diplomatic work to achieve a peace agreement.
Indeed, in the meetings that the European Union will hold on June 23 and 24 on this issue, the member countries will have to express their opinion. But before Italy’s position must be approved by Parliament, probably on Tuesday.
Due to differences within the M5S, an emergency meeting of the 14 members of the M5S Superior Council was called on Sunday night to decide on Di Maio. Many thought that Di Maio would be expelled from the party. But he was not, although there is already talk of a possible division within the Movement.
On the new arms shipment denied by the M5SDi Maio wrote in a note: “Next week the Italian Parliament will vote on a resolution on the position that the government will take to the European Union (EU) meetings on this issue. As Foreign Minister I have reiterated and will continue to reiterate that Italy cannot afford to take positions contrary to Euro-Atlantic values. Values of democracy, freedom, respect for people and defense of States”. And he continued: “we all seek and want peace. Meanwhile, Putin continues to bomb Ukraine, ignoring the request of the international community to sit down for negotiations.”
And in such a scenario, Di Maio also said, “the leaders of the first political force in Parliament (the M5S) decide to attack the Foreign Minister and carry out positions that put the Italian government in difficulty at the headquarters of the EU. An immature attitude that tends to create tensions and instability in the government. A very serious event.”
The president of the Chamber of Deputies Roberto Fico, also from the M5S, responded to Di Maio’s words. “We are disappointed and angry” with Di Maio. The National Council, after Sunday’s meeting, issued a statement in which it described Di Maio’s words as “disrespectful and not true”, regarding the foreign policy carried out by the Movement that “has never put into discussion the placement of Italy in the context of the Atlantic Alliance and the European Union”, he stressed.
In a resolution that the senators of the M5S were preparing, the importance of the government not proceeding to send new weapons to Ukraine had been underlined, which “could facilitate an intensification of the conflict leaving aside a diplomatic solution”. Other things requested from the government were the “consolidation of a coordinated diplomatic action that gives new impetus to peace talks in order to achieve a ceasefire. It was also requested that the EU become the main diplomatic actor and guarantee of economic, humanitarian and health support to the Ukrainian people.
From what is known so far, the EU has sent weapons to Ukraine worth at least €2 billion, the US worth $4.6 billion and the UK worth $1 billion.
The future of the M5S
Di Maio, who will turn 36 in a few days and has been one of the youngest vice presidents of the Chamber of Deputies, deputy prime minister, labor minister twice and now foreign minister, according to some media outlets, has a long way to go yet. Born in Avellino, near Naples, he began studying computer engineering and then Law at the University of Naples. But he never finished. He worked as a journalist for a short period.
Some already give it, although it is only a hypothesis, as the founder of a new center party, to which he would take his followers from the M5S. And he would ally himself with various figures in Italian politics who belong to small parties or have moved away from their original parties. Di Maio seems to get along very well, for example, with the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, located in a socialist and environmentalist area, with the mayor of Parma who has just finished his mandate, Federico Pizzarotti, a former M5S, and with other mayors of important Italian cities such as Florence, Venice and presidents of regions such as Emilia Romania and Liguria. The assumptions published by the press go even further, assuring that Di Maio would be willing to ally himself with the Democratic Party (which today is also part of the government) but without the M5S.
But Di Maio’s departure from his party could cause many problems of balance within the Draghi government, since the M5S or even other parties that are part of it, could request, among other things, his resignation as minister.
