Dispute with Grillo

Five Star Movement parts ways with its founder

Archive image from 2018: Beppe Grillo at a Five Star Movement party speech(Bild: APA/AFP/Alberto PIZZOLI)

Due to irreconcilable differences, the Italian opposition party Five Star Movement has parted ways with its former founder Beppe Grillo.

Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who heads the Five Star Movement, declared on Thursday: "It has become impossible to work together with Grillo." "The conflict is not Grillo against Conte, but Grillo against his own community," said Conte. Grillo's annual contract as communications advisor for the grouping will not be renewed.

The 76-year-old founded the group in 2009 as an anti-establishment movement. In 2013, it won 25 percent of the vote. The Five Star Movement was a governing party from 2018 to 2022. Conte was Prime Minister from 2018 to 2021.

Grillo accuses Conte of lacking political vision
In recent years, the party has lost strength due to political U-turns and internal disputes and currently has just under twelve percent of the vote in the polls. Grillo has recently been increasingly critical of the party's direction. He accused Conte of lacking political vision and criticized the former head of government's strategy, which he sees as an attempt to transform the once unconventional political movement into a traditional left-wing force.