Official, Di Maio leaves the 5 Star Movement . The white-hot clash with Giuseppe Conte started for months and saw the dispatch of further weapons to Kiev as the last theme of the dispute. Eventually it led to the explosion of the pentastellates , as confirmed by the Foreign Minister at a press conference in the evening.

“A painful choice”, said Di Maio, “that I never imagined I would have to make. Today I and many are leaving the M5s which from tomorrow will no longer be the country's leading political force "." We had to choose which side of history - he explains - with the attacked Ukraine or the aggressor Russia. The positions of some leaders of the M5s risked weakening our country ". And again:" Thinking of cutting down the stability of the government only for reasons related to the consensus crisis is irresponsible ".

The signatures of parliamentarians who recognize themselves as close to the Foreign Minister for the constitution of an autonomous parliamentary group are being collected in Montecitorio and Palazzo Madama. There would be 50 deputies and 11 senators who have joined the project , numbers destined to grow. Out of 227 parliamentarians (155 in the Chamber and 72 in the Senate) more than a quarter would be ready to go with Di Maio, who went up to the Hill this evening to be received by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.

"Nobody intends to create a personal political force, we set out - said the former leader of the pentastellati -. Starting with the local administrators. It will have to be a wave with territorial needs at the center. There will be no space for the hatred, populism, sovereigns and extremisms ".

According to the regulation , 20 deputies are needed to form a group in Montecitorio, 10 in Palazzo Madama where, however, the groups must "represent a political party or movement that has presented its candidates with the same mark in the Senate elections, achieving the election of Senators ".

Therefore, if in the Chamber there are no problems in creating a parliamentary group, in the Senate whoever is with Di Maio will be able to enter the Mixed Group within which to form a component.

The contacts between Di Maio and the deputies close to him, it was explained, intensified between last night and this morning. But the project has more distant roots, it was born during the negotiations on the Quirinale "when the M5S line created inconvenience to many", confides a senator.

The new group will be called "Together for the future" , say parliamentarians close to the minister, who expect to be able to reach about fifty signatures.

Di Maio's project would look to 2023, to a formation that starts from the territories, from the experiences of local administrators and civic lists. For this reason, the mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, is considered an interlocutor . The goal, in Parliament, is to also attract deputies and senators from the center-right groups but in disruption with the forces to which they belong. "The founding values of the M5s remain and we carry them with us", is the explanation.

Some names : the Deputy Minister of Economy Laura Castelli , the commissioner of the Camera D'Uva, Vincenzo Spadafora , the Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Manlio Di Stefano. Among the senators there are Primo Di Nicola, Vincenzo Presutto, Trentacoste, Campagna, Donno, Vaccaro and Simona Nocerino.

(Unioneonline / L)

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