The M5S turns 15, Conte’s best wishes: “We never grow old”. And Patuanelli attacks Grillo: “He doesn’t understand our community”

“Today the M5S turns 15 and the best wishes go to each of you, of us, innovators”. With an almost 5 minute video, the president of the Movement, Giuseppe Contewishes the Movement well and “to those who have always been there, to those who have remained, to those who have joined and to those who have not spared themselves this summer too, carrying on our battles to collect signatures against differentiated autonomy and in favor of the minimum wage. I want to wish all of us a happy birthday and I believe that the best way to celebrate our ideas is to still present ourselves today as innovators. The Movement must never grow old, we must always rediscover and renew ourselves. I am also referring to the constituent process, we are the first in Europe to do something like this, a total experiment in direct democracy. Without your commitment there would be no hope of change in this country, which is why the Movement is needed today more than ever”, continues the leader in the video published on his social channels.

A birthday that comes at a very delicate moment for the Movement shaken by the clash between the president and the founder Beppe Grillo. But also delicate due to the fracture in the wide field, the agreement with Schlein destroyed by Conte himself.

Climate, families, healthcare, the themes touched on by the former prime minister in the greeting video. “There is an attack on anti-corruption measures, regulations are being built to protect powerful people, politicians, white collar workers. Income support is also being cut for families with disabled people, the elderly and children. Faced with natural disasters, there is a political reaction which, instead of strengthening interventions to protect the environment, wants to tax businesses and now also private homes. More necessary investments in healthcare than ever are being cut, after we had brought investments back to European levels with our government. We don’t have political appointees to defend in the local health authorities, so we are free to say that we want to chase politics out of healthcare.”

“We – Conte continues – do not have our hands tied by lobbies, we can raise our voice with anyone and above all with those who have always ruled and still want to command, with the banks, with the arms industry, with insurance companies. Even with Stellantis, which sends letters to the workers to buy the Maserati and then stops production and puts the workers on layoffs. Instead, Tavares could, with a salary of 36 million euros a year, buy a Maserati a day.”

Then Conte moves on to international political issues: “On the carnage in Gaza, on weapons in Ukraine, we can and must always be coherent, have a clear position, oppose with all our strength. Because we must not bow to anyone at an international level and we are not afraid to say things as they are. We have always been uncomfortable, we will always be uncomfortable, and that is why they attack us, they discredit us, but we must continue to have broad shoulders. Even certain TV commentators throw mud at us, because for some it is still inconceivable that a political force does not retreat from its values, from our principles. They look at us like UFOs, we are a mysterious object, because it now seems impossible to do politics with values ​​that resist any type of flattery. We must be proud of who we are, we will never have to settle down, never be satisfied.

“Now – he concludes – other political forces are also on our side to build an alternative. We did it with difficulty, even against those who attacked us, those who laughed at us. We have shown that this country can be changed. The best way to celebrate these 15 years is to always remain ourselves.”

Meanwhile, former minister Stefano Patuanelli, participating in “Un giorno da pecora” on Radio 1, attacks Grillo. When asked if all of Grillo’s communication is against Conte, he replies: “This statement is not entirely wrong. At this stage perhaps Grillo is demonstrating that he does not understand our community.”