Ukraine, Conte (M5S): “It is madness to keep betting on a military victory”

Brussels – Ukraine? It’s madness to keep betting on a military victory for Kyiv. Italy? The priority is to work towards a country that can retain its young people. The president of the Five Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte, in Brussels to take part in an event with activists from Network Giovani (Youth Network) outside the European Parliament in Brussels, covers a range of domestic and foreign policy issues, with an eye on the upcoming general election. 

“In Italy today, there is no environment that is favourable to young people. We suffer because they are leaving for abroad,” and changing this situation “is one of the priorities we have placed at the heart of our agenda for an alternative government, a priority on which we are working alongside all the other progressive forces,” he says. “Some people ask us why we don’t bring out the programme, why we don’t hurry up,” he replies to reporters’ questions about the upcoming elections. The reason lies in the “extensive grassroots work with citizens, including those not affiliated with the movement, in accordance with the principles of participatory and deliberative democracy” that the M5S is undertaking “to develop a solid and concrete programme,” defined with a “long-term vision to change the country.” This consultation process “will be completed over the summer and then shared with the other political forces.” Conte has in mind a project “not of the centre-left, but progressive.”

On relations with the Democratic Party and possible differences ahead of the European Council—with two separate resolutions on Ukraine on the horizon—Conte calls for a broader assessment: “If you look at the current situation in the centre-right, you will see that on every issue they are not only divided, but arguing furiously.” As for the progressive camp, the M5S leader admits to a divergence, but plays it down. “On foreign policy, we are very close on a great many positions, on issues that are central to us: the restoration of international law, the condemnation of all illegal attacks, even by the major powers.” On Ukraine, “with the PD, and not with AVS, there is a difference in approach, vision and strategy for resolving the conflict. We believe that a shift towards negotiation is the only possible way forward. Continuing to pin hopes on military victory is madness, given the failure of recent years.”

Finally, Conte asserts that his position has been consistent from the outset. “We are even more convinced that we were right: if we had invested in what costs nothing—dialogue and diplomacy—rather than continuing to fund a military escalation, we would have avoided destruction, devastation, and hundreds of thousands of deaths among the Ukrainian population. Today, there can be no delay in taking the lead in a breakthrough in negotiations.” A breakthrough from which Italy, he emphasises, has been excluded, because “we were not invited; we did not participate in the London summit, nor in the summit on the Balkans with the European Union.”