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It is one of those temporary coincidences that are worth more than any word and any intention of political and cultural change. At the same time that M5s abandons all movement and is relaunched, at least in intentions, as a ruling, pragmatic and systemic party, the change materializes in the Tap issue, the gas pipeline that from Azerbaijan brings gas to Italy through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea. Officially inaugurated yesterday in Puglia at the same moments in which the States General took place.
During the event, they talked about the environment to go back to the origins but nobody dared to pronounce the word “pipeline”. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte speaks of the “lacerating decisions” that the M5s have had to face in recent years. And the thought can only go to the Tap. This was in fact the banner of an alternative vision of society, it was the dossier in which not only Di Battista but the entire Movement focused its battle against realization, citing reasons linked to the mysticism of hyper-environmentalism of the tradition of Father Casaleggio. And now, the Tap is the great eliminated.
The barricades in Puglia, the processions, Dibba in a rebellious version that on the stage of San Foca, in Salento, said that “with M5 in government, we will block this opera in two weeks.” Solemn promise made in 2017 in front of his constituents and hundreds of protesters. Enough to ensure that Puglia was hit by a veritable yellow wave in the political elections. You can say a plebiscite, with percentages reaching 40 in the Senate of the entire Region. And in the Chamber, the grillini reached 44.93% with almost a million votes. It is the third consensus region for grillini after Campania and Sicily.
However, it only takes a few months, and it is clear to everyone that the story would have told something very different from the campaign promises not long ago. Here the opposite begins. Lecce-born Barbara Lezzi, one of the first activists from Apulia, became Minister for the South in June 2018 in the name of stopping the construction of the gas pipeline. It should have brought the voice of the Apulian grillini gathered in their encounters to the Roman palaces.
However, before the file, cardboard in hand, companies with the breath of government on their necks, the classic cost-benefit analysis begins, the same that will be done for the Tav, and in both cases the result is the same. That is to say, green light for the continuation of the works, the result of the river encounters at Palazzo Chigi. Of nights in which Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has already become aware of what to do, although officially the government is stagnant for a few days.
Then, one night, Minister Lezzi, leaving Palazzo Chigi, together with his colleague Sergio Costa, Minister of the Environment, is forced to say that “blocking the TAP would cost too much. But it took us 36 hours to decide ”. The exponents and parliamentarians of Apulia M5 arrive in Rome to take stock of the project. There is also the mayor of Melendugno Marco Potì, who has always opposed the landing of the pipeline in his municipality and is convinced that there are irregularities capable of allowing the cancellation of contracts: “The Minister of the Environment will seek in a short time and with our it helps other strong and legally valid reasons to bring up critical Tap issues and violations. ” Then he does not hide some perplexities about the management of the dossier: “I have the impression that not all the necessary insights have been made or adequate time has been spent looking for some valid reason to actually block Tap.”
It all ends with Minister Lezzi saying: “Our hands are tied.” Statement that recalls that of Luigi Di Maio who had spoken of a “perfect crime” about the Ilva case, alluding to what was prepared by the previous executive. In detail, he explains it as follows: “The gas contracts provide for compensation starting at 20 billion. We certainly cannot get out of it well … Faced with these costs, unfortunately we are forced to stop ”. That is, stop the battle. He acquits himself, explaining that he is unaware of the private contracts between the companies involved and that he suffered an “institutional discourtesy” from the previous government, which closed the authorization process for the work after the political elections, without waiting for the yellow-green government to decide. . In all likelihood, very little would have changed.
Later, protests break out in Puglia, the local committees of No-Tap, an electoral basin for the world of the M5, request the resignation of Minister Lezzi and the parliamentarians. This time, even more than for Ilva, dissent towards the pipeline and its landing in Melendugno is transversal and generalized in the Salento area. “They must resign en bloc,” activists ask elected pentastellati officials. “We denounce to public opinion and to all institutions, both Italian and European, that there is an unacceptable suspension of the rule of law in Italy”, writes No Taps on its Facebook page: “The executive in charge continues to publicly declare the ‘ existence of costs and penalties to block the construction of the pipeline, keeping hidden the documents that confirm it. ”It is the moment when the government grillini detach themselves from their base, emerging from the primordial soup of the protest.
First the glories and triumphs of the gas war. But then also the setbacks of a battle that gradually loses conviction and vigor in parallel with the arrival of a traditional party realism. However, it is difficult to translate this change into a new consensus or the maintenance of what was there. The change of season is certified by the electoral numbers. The M5s in the last regional elections in Puglia obtained slightly less than 10%.
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