Conte-Schlein lunch thaws personal tensions but leaves Ukraine, rearmament, and primary rules unresolved
A Rome lunch between Five Star leader Giuseppe Conte and PD secretary Elly Schlein eased personal friction but left unresolved the coalition's deep divisions over Ukraine arms, rearmament spending, and the rules for choosing a prime ministerial candidate.
A lunch to cool tempers
Giuseppe Conte and Elly Schlein met for lunch on 4 August at a restaurant in Rome's Campo de' Fiori, an encounter both sides described as cordial and long-planned. Conte, speaking to reporters at Montecitorio, said there was "no personal problem" with the PD secretary and that the meal had been arranged the previous week. "Political dialectic remains, but with mutual respect," he added. PD sources confirmed a "relaxed climate" and said the two leaders took stock of next steps.
The lunch came after days of sharp exchanges that threatened to fracture the centre-left coalition known as the "campo largo". On Sunday, Conte had told an audience at PiazzAsiago that the coalition's position on Ukraine would be settled by the primary elections, implying that whoever won the contest would dictate the line. Schlein pushed back the following day: "It doesn't work like that. First the programme, then the candidate."
The Ukraine and primaries standoff
The core dispute remains unchanged. Conte reiterated the Five Star Movement's four-year opposition to sending arms to Ukraine, while acknowledging the Democratic Party's different stance. "I have said and repeated the same things that I and the M5S have been saying for four years, our position is always the same. But I respect the positions of the Democratic Party," he said. The M5S leader wants the primaries to resolve not only the choice of candidate but also the coalition's policy direction. Schlein insists that a shared programme must be agreed first, fearing that a primary winner could impose their party's line on allies.
Conte later added that foreign policy cannot be excluded from the primaries. "It would be absurd," he said, "foreign policy is one of the most qualifying challenges for the country, for Europe, and right now for the international geopolitical scenario."
A new front on rearmament
Even as the two leaders dined, a fresh rift opened within the PD itself. A joint resolution drafted by PD, M5S, and the Green-Left alliance (AVS) ahead of Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti's parliamentary communications was rejected by the party's reformist wing. The text opposed rearmament, NATO spending commitments, new military expenditure, and any budget deviation for arms. Reformist PD figures said the draft was "not shareable" and warned that if it remained unchanged, a split was inevitable. The episode made clear that the coalition's internal fractures extend beyond the Conte-Schlein relationship.
- Conte says Ukraine stance will be decided by primaries.
- Schlein replies that the programme must come before the candidate.
- Conte and Schlein hold lunch in Rome; PD reformists reject joint rearmament resolution.
Coalition building in slow motion
The lunch may have restored personal civility, but the path to a unified centre-left alternative to Giorgia Meloni's government remains steep. One commentary noted that the two leaders seemed to be ordering from different menus: one seafood, the other mountain fare. Matteo Renzi, leader of Italia Viva, weighed in from Marina di Pietrasanta, saying he cared little about primary rules and more about the cost of living. "Meloni has a divided coalition, also thanks to Robertus Vannaccius Nero," he said, using a mocking Latinised nickname for a League MEP. "What the centre-left cannot do is divide itself." The 1996 Ulivo coalition, recalled the same commentary, required 88 theses to come together; today's campo largo appears no less complex.
