The 5 Star Movement finally has a home in Brussels. Five-star members were welcomed (with reservations) by the Left group, which Ilaria Salis joined and was chosen from the ranks of the alliance between the Greens and the Italian Left.

It took six years for Giuseppe Conte to go from Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio to Nicola Fratoianni and Ilaria Salis. After all, the chameleon leader of the M5S has accustomed us to these sudden turns. During the so-called “Papeete crisis”, Conte announced with great confidence in front of the cameras that he would not lead any other government than the yellow-green. It is true that we are all still patiently waiting for Walter Veltroni to go to Africa and for Matteo Renzi to leave politics, but it is also true that the M5S and Conte should only support a government with foreign capital and then take action. The transition from ‘one is as good as the other’ to ‘one is as good as the other’ is beautiful and complete.

But it is not so distant that a part of the Catholic electorate, even from the centre-right, dreams of rebuilding the centre around the figure of the defender of the people, who proudly claims to have studied at Villa Nazareth University College. It is led by Monsignor Domenico Tardini and is currently chaired by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State.

But Conte, omnipresent in the dizzying times of Covid, was seen by then Democratic Party secretary Nicola Zingaretti as “a point of reference for all progressive forces.” It is 2019 and his coronation as the future “foreign pope” and federator of the centre-left is upon us, but the government crisis prevented Conte from becoming the “new Prodi”.

Today, after running an election campaign attacking the Democratic Party for the European elections, he is further to the left than Elly Schlein. It is also important to remember that Conte’s decision five years ago to support Ursula Von Der Leyen as EU Commission President was the “weapon of Sarajevo” that marked the split between him and Matteo Salvini. Today, with its entry into the Left Group, the M5S is preparing to undermine Von Der Leyen’s trust, just as the Northern League MPs who are preparing to join Viktor Orban’s group will do.

“Some loves take huge turns and then come back…” sang Antonello Venditti.

There will of course be no backsliding between Conte and Salvini, but it would be extremely wrong to think that the differences in foreign policy are only on the centre-right. The M5S did not vote for the ESM, will not vote for the new European Commission and will probably oppose new arms shipments to Kiev, but says it is ready to join the new anti-Melonian Popular Front, which includes Elly Schlein, in the study. Another contradiction of a movement led by a political leader who is anxious to see his (still hypothetical) young coalition ally fail in order to return triumphantly to Palazzo Chigi.