ROME (Reuters) - Italys 5-Star Movement, once a prototype for successful populist and anti-establishment parties around Europe, is at a crossroads. Does it fully embrace the political mainstream, or revert to being an outsider?<\/p>\n
FILE PHOTO: Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi drinks a beverage during a debate at the Senate ahead of a confidence vote for the government, in Rome, Italy, February 17, 2021. REUTERS\/Yara Nardi\/Pool\/File Photo<\/p>\n
With support ebbing, its fate could shape Italian politics for years to come, and the battle lines over its future have been drawn.<\/p>\n
When the head of state asked former European Central Bank head Mario Draghi on Feb. 2 to try to form a government, and so end Italys political stalemate, 5-Stars leadership immediately ruled out supporting him.<\/p>\n
But its founder, 72-year-old former comedian Beppe Grillo, had other ideas. Four days later, he rushed from his home in Genoa for a crisis meeting in Rome with about 30 of 5-Stars top lawmakers.<\/p>\n
At the encounter in a conference room in the capitals labyrinthine Chamber of Deputies, he made clear 5-Stars initial decision should be reversed, according to a lawmaker who was present.<\/p>\n
When we walked in Grillo was pretending to talk to someone on the telephone; it was a kind of comedy act, said the source, who declined to be named because the meeting was private. He was discussing ... why we should be part of the government.<\/p>\n
Some 5-Star politicians and voters are deeply unhappy with the line imposed by Grillo.<\/p>\n
At Draghis first vote of confidence in parliament on Wednesday, 23 of 5-Stars 92 senators defied the party line and refused to back him. 5-Stars caretaker leader Vito Crimi said most of them would be expelled.<\/p>\n
If 5-Star emerges from its crisis further weakened or transformed into a mainstream progressive party, it could mark the end of the populist wave which swept Italy at the last election and which alarmed financial markets and its European partners.<\/p>\n
Matteo Salvinis League has already shifted out of the far-right camp to get behind Draghi.<\/p>\n
In some ways, 5-Star has followed a similar trajectory to other populist parties in southern Europe such as Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain.<\/p>\n
All three achieved power, but have been absorbed into the mainstream they vowed to fight and seen their support wither.<\/p>\n
I dont know what you should call us now. Maybe the anti-anti-establishment party?, 5-Star lawmaker Raphael Raduzzi told Reuters. We have to ask ourselves what we want to become.<\/p>\n
Grillo gave up day-to-day involvement in 5-Stars affairs about five years ago, but when crucial decisions are to be made he is still the one who calls the shots.<\/p>\n
Shortly before his meeting with 5-Star parliamentarians, he wrote a blog post calling for the new government to name a minister for ecological transition with full responsibility for energy policy.<\/p>\n
Grillo had already spoken to Draghi and received an assurance this ministry would be created in return for 5-Stars backing, a source close to the 5-Star founder told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Grillo, who communicates with the public mainly through his blog, declined to comment for this article.<\/p>\n
Draghis spokeswoman confirmed Grillo and Draghi spoke about the governments formation.<\/p>\n
They agreed over the importance of creating a government with a strong emphasis on ecological transition, she said.<\/p>\n
Ecology has always been a central part of 5-Stars platform. It is one of the five policy stars from which it takes its name. Sustainable transport is another.<\/p>\n
Italy, unlike Germany and France, has never had a successful Green party and Grillo is eyeing that gap in the hope of saving his party from gradual extinction.<\/p>\n
Huge sums as well as high ideals are involved. The European Commission has ordered that policies to fight climate change must account for 37% of its Recovery Fund set up to help the blocs battered economies, the largest single component.<\/p>\n
In Italys case that means 70 billion euros ($85 billion) to spend on green transition over the next six years.<\/p>\n
Now the environment. Whatever it takes, Grillo tweeted this week under an Andy Warhol-style multicolour diptych of Draghi, in reference to the former ECB chiefs famous 2012 pledge to do whatever it takes to save the euro.<\/p>\n
5-Star is the largest force in parliament thanks to its triumph at a 2018 election when it took 33% of the vote, double the tally of its nearest rival.<\/p>\n
It now has less than 15%, making it Italys fourth largest party, and desperately needs a new identity.<\/p>\n
It has four ministers in Draghis newly formed cabinet, but for many members, supporting the government of a former ECB chief is unacceptable. Doing so in a coalition with sworn enemies makes matters worse.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2009 as a channel for protest against the perceived corruption and cronyism of Italys political and business elite, 5-Star espoused internet-based direct democracy and vowed never to form alliances with traditional parties.<\/p>\n
In the last three years it has ruled in two coalitions, with the right and centre-left, and is now set to govern with both at once.<\/p>\n
For me this is a step too far, said Raduzzi, a lower house deputy who opposed joining the government of technocrats and career politicians.<\/p>\n
Raduzzi has not left the party, unlike one of its most popular figures - Alessandro Di Battista - who writes frequent articles attacking Draghi or members of his government.<\/p>\n
Di Battista, a charismatic 42-year-old firebrand, walked out after the decision to back Draghi, but his followers expect him to return when the time is right and see him as a future leader.<\/p>\n
The battle for 5-Stars future is likely to be fought over the opposing visions of Di Battista on the one hand and Grillo on the other.<\/p>\n
Grillo, for now in the driving seat, wants to transform 5-Star into an environmentalist, pro-EU party allied with the centre-left Democratic Party to compete with Salvinis rightist bloc.<\/p>\n
Di Battista wants 5-Star to avoid a structural alliance with the left and to regain its old anti-establishment spirit, with a more critical stance towards the EU and big business.<\/p>\n
I believe this government is suicide for the 5-Star Movement and is bad for Italy, Di Battista told Reuters. He did not rule out a return to 5-Stars ranks in the future.<\/p>\n
The risk for 5-Star, currently in the hands of the uncharismatic Crimi, is that whatever path the party takes, by the time of the next election in 2023 its decline will be irreversible.<\/p>\n
The slump in 5-Stars support was not altogether surprising, given it is an anti-establishment party also in government. Without sufficient seats in parliament to rule alone, the movement also joined forces with either the left or right.<\/p>\n
Unlike the leftist Syriza and Podemos, or the far-right National Rally in France and Austrias Freedom Party, 5-Star has always presented itself as an ideology-free movement with voters from the left and right alike.<\/p>\n
Some political commentators believe its best chance of revival lies with former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who has no party affiliation but is close to 5-Star.<\/p>\n
The message Conte posted on Facebook on his last day as prime minister received more than a million likes, a record for an Italian politician. He promised to continue the path of his 16-month, left-leaning government in future.<\/p>\n
Millions of 5-Star voters, and some of its politicians, hope he does so as their leader.<\/p>\n
($1 = 0.8275 euros)<\/p>\n
Writing by Gavin Jones; Editing by Mike Collett-White<\/p>\n
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Divided over Draghi, Italy's 5-Star has an identity crisis - Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ROME (Reuters) - Italys 5-Star Movement, once a prototype for successful populist and anti-establishment parties around Europe, is at a crossroads. Does it fully embrace the political mainstream, or revert to being an outsider? FILE PHOTO: Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi drinks a beverage during a debate at the Senate ahead of a confidence vote for the government, in Rome, Italy, February 17, 2021 Continue reading