After the step backwards by former magistrate Nicola Colaianni, there is thick fog in the wide field in Puglia. The slowdown of the leader of the 5 Star Movement Giuseppe Conte on the 'third candidate' for the municipality of Bari puts the ball back in the hands of the Democratic Party. That in a regional river direction two thorny issues are on the table. First of all, the race for the seat of mayor of the Apulian capital. A brief passage on the impasse in the meeting, however, does not untie the knot. The center-left candidates still in the field, Michele Laforgia and Vito Leccese, will face it in a face-to-face meeting expected in the next few hours. There are no repairs of any kind on the horizon. And many, barring last minute surprises, are ready to bet on an outcome that appears increasingly definitive: everyone is on their own path. While the matter of the reshuffle in the Emiliano council remains, which Elly Schlein continues to press, asking for a "clear renewal and not a mere replacement". And tensions rise from Puglia to Rome.
Colaianni's decision renews the friction between the Democratic Party and the 5 Star Movement. The former magistrate, invited by Nichi Vendola and the Italian Left to bring out the wide field from the Bari quagmire, explains his reasons: "Conte's words had weight", but also "the melina of the local candidates". For the 5 Star Movement the line remains unchanged: the most authoritative candidate remains Laforgia, to whom Conte confirms his mandate. Schlein opposes his support to Leccese: "we are at his side even if he wants to attempt a dialogue for a unitary path". Angelo Bonelli invites us to "stop the dripping", relaunching Leccese's candidacy and opening a window of dialogue with the Italian Left. But the two candidates will have the last word.
Meanwhile, further legal trouble falls on the Apulian affair. The mayor of Bari, Antonio Decaro, revokes the delegation of the budget councilor, Alessandro D'Adamo, who is among the three people investigated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office for aggravated fraud regarding public funds. President Conte reiterates: "I brought a pact for legality, now faced with this latest judicial scandal I won't make an opinion".
Schlein, does not go into the merits of the new investigation which falls on another member of the same civic list as Maurodinoia. During the conference in the Roman headquarters of the Foreign Press, however, he returns to defend the Dem community.
"Transformations and wrong interests - he explains - must find the doors of the Democratic Party closed and sealed". And he launches a dig in the direction of the M5s: "instead of looking for the easy scapegoat and pointing the finger at others, we should have the intelligence to look inside ourselves, the Democratic Party is doing it". "The Movement is neither the moralizer nor the punisher in other people's homes", replies the five-star leader. A back-and-forth that feeds on at a distance and does not ease the already tense relationships between the two, who continue to find no opportunities for discussion. And Schlein certifies the difficulties of the wide field: "there are certainly some problems". Looking at the work underway on the administrative issues, however, he does not give up: "it is clear that the construction of the alternative is not dead". To those who ask her, in the conference, if she feels subordinate to Conte, she says: "no, because when I have to answer I haven't held back".
For many, the European Championship match is seen as an opportunity to weigh in on a wide field in difficulty. But not for Conte. Who clarifies: "if we overtake the Democratic Party at the European elections I will not use this as a reason for leadership towards the Dems, the world of the Democratic Party should relax". A statement that Campo Marzio interprets as valid also in the opposite direction: "the European elections do not establish leadership, our objective is to bring people to the vote, not to make one more point than the Democratic Party".
And for Schlein, the European match enters its final week. The very hot one in view of the approval of the lists towards Sunday. Many boxes already defined, just as many to fill. Meanwhile, the secretary tests the slogans for the campaign at the press conference and she has no doubts about the Commission's leadership. You reiterate your "esteem" for Draghi, supported today also by a Manifesto signed by intellectuals and politicians. But the PSE candidate, for Schlein, remains Schmit.