5 Star Movement: how an anti-establishment Organization entered the Political World

Beppe Grillo rewrote the history of the Italian political scene with its maverick political party Five Start Movement (5SM). He gave people hope by using the winning key of politics: populism. After 11 years of its existence this party has fundamentally changed its original beliefs and transformed its identity in order to suit the European and international political world. The present essay aims to analyze the Five Star Movement ideology by looking in depth at the events that brought party to evolve and replace its initial ideals according to different circumstances and periods. It will be looking at its international and national alliances to understand the reasons behind them, focusing on how this is bringing them to lose trust of their voters. It will also be argued the role of populism as a double- edge sword, getting to the conclusion that this party is not ideologically frozen in time.

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Although, the original plan of the movement was not to be part of a corrupted political world, today it represents one of the main factions inside the Italian parliament. ''Five stars'' refers to the five issues its founders fight for: public water, environmentalism, sustainable transports, right to internet access, and sustainable development. They propose an idea of direct democracy that they carry out through Grillo's online blog. As stated on their website, 5SM will never be a political party as they do not belong to the right or left-wing and what they propose are ideas, not ideologies. Their conservative anti- immigration, anti-vaccination, and the Eurosceptic view is combined with a more liberal understanding of same-sex marriage and environmental and social issues. Therefore, some people consider it close to left-libertarian position, while others a conservative right party.

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In order to have a better understanding of how Five Star Movement policy changed during the past 11 years, it is fundamental to look at its historical development. 5SM was founded in 2009 by the former comedian Beppe Grillo and the entrepreneur Gianroberto Casaleggio as a group for all those people who did not feel represented by Italian politicians anymore. In 2012 5SM makes its first entry into the political world when 4 Italian cities elect mayors from the Movement. This was just the beginning of its rise. The emerging of Grillo on the political scene first took place in October 2012. In view of the general election in 2013, he swam across the strait of Messina, emphasizing his disagreement about the project of building a bridge between the eastern tip of Sicily and the western tip of Calabria (Populist Italian politician Grillo swims Straits of Messina, 2012). But Grillo’s Tsunami tour around Italy was the winning key of 2013 elections. His communication skills and closeness to the citizens allowed Luigi Di Maio, the running politician of the Movement to be elected at the age of 26, becoming the youngest vice- president of the House. Di Maio's victory signs 5SM transition from a political movement to an actual political party.

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As it was mentioned above, the party does not want to be associated with left or right points of view. But to be considered an active part of the Italian government they must take a position about political and economic issues. In 2014, 17 members of the

Movement entered the European Parliament. This was their possibility to become a strong influence across Europe and create solid alliances with similar parties. Grillo let his voters decide through his blog which European stance they had to team up with. The two options were the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) led by British Prime Minister David Cameron and Nigel Farage's Europe for Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD). Farage's EFDD got the majority of votes cast, and Grillo's movement became increasingly associated with the right conservative view. (Quadri, 2014)

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2016 is the year of the death of 5SM co-founder Gianroberto Casaleggio, who will be replaced by his son Davide. But this is also the year of Russeau's launch, also defined as a ‘’platform party’’ (Gerubaudo, 2019): an online platform that allows members of the movement to directly communicate with their leaders, express their ideas, and suggest adjusts to the laws presented in Parliament. Russeau platform is an attempt of the movement to implement its principle of direct democracy and establish an immediate communication with its people. In 2017 Five Star Movement decided to change its position in the European Parliament. Beppe Grillo claims they no longer share Farage's ideals after UK vote to leave Europe in 2016. The following 5SM attempt to enter the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) was defined as Grillo's Waterloo (Barigazzi, 2017). Indeed ALDE, the Euro fanatic group led by Guy Verhofstadt, refused to share their beliefs with them, leaving the Movement without a coalition in Brussels.

Even though they were not admitted this episode was an opportunity for the Movement to show its opening towards the EU Union, gaining voters for the 2018 general election (Kirchgassener, 2017). General elections are held every 5 years in Italy and after 2013 Di Maio's success, 2018 is another satisfactory year for the Movement. However, they did not manage to ensure victory and elect Di Maio as Prime Minister. The Center-right Coalition and its main party League led by Matteo Salvini got 37% of the votes, while 5SM got 32,7% as an individual party (Italian elections 2018 – full results, 2018). Neither Salvini nor Di Maio won an outright majority, resulting in a hung parliament. After three months of negotiations between Salvini and Di Maio, on the 1st of June 2018, a coalition is finally established. Salvini and Di Maio become Deputy Prime Ministers, and a new figure is introduced within the Italian political scene: Giuseppe Conte. He is the first prime minister who was not directly elected by the citizens and his duty, as well as being PM, is finding a compromise between the two parties.

The recent history of the Movement also overlaps with what could be viewed as the beginning of its fall (Loguercio, 2019). Indeed, 2019 European elections clearly showed how they are slowly losing support by placing third after the League and the Democratic Party. This was an expected consequence as the party has always tried to be politically neutral and impartial, while people need strong leaders able to take decisions and positions. The original essence of the Movement was lost and some of its voters cut ties with them. The populistic nature of 5SM cannot be combined with the responsibility of ruling a country and becoming part of the broken system they have always criticized. Currently they occupy 14 seats in Brussels, but after months of negotiations trying to team up with the Greens, they got stuck in the Non-Inscrits section of the EU Parliament (Le strane alleanze del Movimento 5 stelle in Europa, 2019). Having allies in Brussels is

essential to bring up Italy's interests. Being the most voted party in your country and having no decisional power in the EU can only lead to a loss of electors and trust.

In the meanwhile, in the Italian Parliament, the tension between Salvini and Di Maio increases. This is the point of no return of an already divided party, still trying to pick up its broken pieces after EU Elections. Following Tav’s construction approval in August 2019 the Movement tables a motion to stop the works of the high-speed rail link between Turin and Lion. Salvini did not support his allies, opening the door to a government crisis. He claimed the two parties were too different to team up, asking for new general elections. The 20th of August 2019 Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigns tired of Salvini's incoherence. 5SM managed to avoid a return to the polls forming an alliance with Paolo Gentiloni's Democratic Party (PD), the third biggest party in the parliament, and asked Giuseppe Conte to return his position of PM. 5 September 2019 Conte takes an oath of loyalty to Italy's Republic and a new government takes place: 5 Star Movement and PD are now the main coalition inside the parliament (Che succede nel Movimento 5 Stelle, 2020). Again, the Movement contradicts its ideal of not being associated with any political party. After this episode, the internal rift of 5SM became increasingly evident. On one side Di Maio and Vito Crimini's institutional view of the party, on the other side Davide Casaleggio and Alessandro Di Battista, supporting the original essence of the Movement.

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2020 is another obvious sign of their decline: Di Maio resigns from his leadership and Vito Crimini takes his place. The only hope they had, is regional election of September, but no one of their candidates was elected (Tirocino, 2020). This year challenged politicians all around the world and citizens might be likely to blame politicians for their handling of the pandemic at next elections. Next Italian General election will be held in 2023 and only then we will find out if Five Star Movement is still able to influence the political scene.

In conclusion, Five Star Movement has fundamentally changed and reshaped its beliefs to fit in an institutional political world. Populism has been a great ally of the Movement during its first phase as they managed to bring together right and left-oriented people. Grillo and Di Maio acknowledge 5SM has lost its original identity. Their biggest challenge now is not losing trust of their electors taking political positions at the same time. This party complex history confirms how difficult it is for political parties to remain attached to their beliefs in an ever-changing economic and political world. Coronavirus management, Europe deals, and recovering the economy are just a few challenges the Movement must face. It is hard to predict whether this party will still be the main character of the Italian government after coronavirus global pandemic. What we know for sure is that the anti- establishment 5 Star Movement has now become the establishment.

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