Schlein to the PD: ‘The primaries? We’ll win them.’ But Conte shakes up the alliance: ‘Never with anyone who sends weapons to Kyiv’

But the party leaders who arrived in Reggio Emilia to hear from their ‘stubbornly united’ secretary have had other things on their minds for the past few hours. Because this morning, Giuseppe Conte spoke out more forcefully than usual on the issue of arms for Ukraine: ‘It is clear that we will need to set out a few firm points in advance, because it is unacceptable that Schlein or another candidate might win the primaries tomorrow morning, only for arms to be sent to Kyiv in droves, fuelling a military escalation that is leading us towards a third world war day by day. The M5S cannot endorse a programme that envisages continuing to do what Meloni is doing in foreign policy.”

It was a real bombshell, the one dropped by Giuseppe Conte after receiving applause from the Democratic Party audience in Reggio Emilia on Saturday evening. As persuasive and conciliatory as he was at the Festa dell’Unità, so too was he peremptory and menacing before ‘his’ audience at the festival organised by *Il Fatto Quotidiano* – the flagship newspaper of the M5S – at La Versiliana. Conte, playing both sides, ready to win votes for the primaries from all quarters, one might say. Conte, keen to steal the front-page headlines from his rival Schlein on this first cool Sunday after a scorching summer, one might say. But the M5S leader seems, for the first time, to have gone a little beyond the usual competition for the premiership: he has set out a scenario in which, should his opponent win the battle of the campaign stands, the coalition could fall apart. Or, in a perhaps even worse alternative, a scenario in which the primaries themselves could be called off if the decision to send arms to Ukraine is upheld.

And that ‘yes’, in agreement with the entire family of European socialists, certainly stands: ‘We have supported and will continue to support the people of Ukraine, who have been unjustly invaded by Putin’s military offensive, which continues to this day,’ Schlein declares from the stage. Nor does she leave Conte to address the issue of the EU’s diplomatic role: ‘We have called on Europe to make a diplomatic and political effort, to take the initiative, to appoint a European negotiator.’ Schlein’s clarification on Ukraine was both necessary and welcomed by the leader of the internal reformist minority, Lorenzo Guerini (‘I agree wholeheartedly’).

But fears and suspicions within the Democratic Party remain. “The persistence with which Conte reiterates his delusional views on Ukraine – when he knows full well that the PD, IV and Più Europa will vote to continue supporting the invaded country – suggests that he does not want the coalition to remain united. He is not an ally but a saboteur’: so says Lia Quartapelle, but many share this view, including leaders of the Schlein-led majority. ‘Either my line prevails or I’ll leave’ – this is essentially how Conte’s warning is perceived by the Democrats. He is evidently convinced he can win the primaries when he argues that the ‘count’ must take place as soon as possible because the winner needs time to build their support base (‘‘the primaries cannot be held in the run-up to the election campaign because, if there is a political community disoriented by the victory of a leader who is not their own, it will take months to explain, to understand and to arrive at the general election united and strong’”).

“Either he wants to take over the PD and, if he fails, make a run for it, or he’s looking for an excuse to scrap the primaries altogether,” someone ventures on the Campovolo lawn. In short, seen from Reggio Emilia, Conte’s words seem like a way of laying the groundwork for a possible escape plan. And there are also those who recall the precedent set by the only experiment with joint primaries: July 2022, for the selection of the candidate for President of Sicily. The PD candidate, Caterina Chinnici, won, beating the Five Star Movement’s Barbara Floridia, but then at the ballot – partly due to the split at national level that led to the fall of the Draghi government – the M5S stood alone. Two years later, in April 2024, the primaries scheduled in Bari to select the mayoral candidate were cancelled even earlier, again at the hands of the M5S, due to a judicial investigation into vote-buying involving some PD members. In short, the suspicion is that Conte is raising the bar to keep his options open.

Meanwhile, Ms Schlein brushes aside Conte’s comments, reaffirms her support for Ukraine and appears untroubled by the primary vote count, confident of victory. But the polling stations still seem a long way off. ‘Let the night pass,’ as the great Eduardo De Filippo used to say.