Beppe Grillo (Ansa)

A fierce opponent of the European Union and the single currency. An opponent of the Italian political class, which he sees as money grubbing and protected. This is, in short, the profile of Beppe Grillo, a comedian from Genoa who leads the Movimento Cinque Stelle (M5S) and who, according to forecasts, is likely to walk away with 14% of the votes. Grillo's movement was set up in 2009 but in fact it first appeared in elections in 2008.

His political outburst started in the regional elections of 2010 where, with an anti-political agenda, he managed to grab hold of 7% in northern regions such as Emilia Romagna. This peaked last year with the historic 14.9% gained in Sicilia. Despite this growth in electoral weight, the comedian stayed close to his initial approach: no TV appearances, only rallies and online propaganda, particularly through his own blog. Even in the "primarie", candidates were chosen online. The movement, however, has been the focus of controversy especially when Grillo kicked out some members, assumed guilty of having challenged his position or having over exposed themselves on Tv.
M5S takes the form of an independent entity in its own right (just like center-right, center-left and center) because it promises not to align itself with any other political party following the vote. Grillo takes from his "independence" a source of pride, which helps to differentiate him from everyone else on the Italian political scene. But who is he actually trying to appeal to? Firstly, to all those who are fed up with the Italian political class. Secondly he is courting middle-class Italians from the north disillusioned by the alliance of center-right (Pdl and Lega Nord). Grillo is in fact more and more openly addressing his rallies to small northern businesses. Last week he tried to woo them with a proposal intending to «abolish» trade unions as «outdated structures».

Thinking outside the box yesterday there was another proposal which suggested setting up a state owned bank, headed by the President of the Republic, designed to help support small and medium-sized businesses, professionals and families in need, with microloans. Grillo's anti- European stance is well known having defined the Eu as «a place that looks like Club Med, a kind of political exile for those who couldn't swing it in the national elections».
Adrift from the three main political parties lies a fifth entity, which we might call the "radical left." It is represented mainly by Rivoluzione Civile, the party just founded by anti-mafia prosecutor Antonio Ingroia. It also tends to pick up parties traditionally placed to the left of the PD (the biggest center-left party) such as Rifondazione Comunista but also Italia dei Valori of the former prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro. As a whole, this coalition is expected to get around 4% of the votes: but to get seats in the Senate the minimum threshold needed is 8%. In addition, its radical position on economic reforms and on European issues would make it difficult to line up with Bersani's PD.
(Traduzione di James Tierney)

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