ROME — Divisions over Russia, foreign policy, and the boundaries of Italy’s opposition coalition are again exposing the contradictions of the so-called “Campo largo,” the broad center-left alliance seeking to challenge Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Why it matters: The coalition’s persistent disagreements are often presented as evidence of its weakness. Political scientist Marco Valbruzzi argues that ambiguity and a minimalist political platform may instead be the only viable strategy for keeping Italy’s fragmented opposition together.
- Speaking to our sister website Formiche, Valbruzzi, a political scientist at the University of Naples Federico II, said the future of the alliance may ultimately depend less on resolving its political differences than on the fate of Italy’s electoral law.
Driving the news: Recent statements by Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte on Russia have again highlighted differences between his party and the Democratic Party, particularly on foreign policy.
- But Valbruzzi sees little evidence of a new strategic rupture. “Nothing new under the sun of the bonsai version of the Campo Largo,” he said.
- Conte, Valbruzzi argued, has long maintained an ambiguous position on Russia, while the Democratic Party’s own internal composition prevents it from adopting a clear-cut position on the issue.
- “From this point of view, ambiguity is the real strategy,” he said.
Between the lines: The problem is that what benefits the coalition does not necessarily benefit the parties within it.
- According to Valbruzzi, center-left leaders would be better served by setting aside divisive foreign policy issues and concentrating on domestic priorities.
- Individual parties, however, have an electoral incentive to emphasize their differences from potential allies and use divisive issues to strengthen their political identities.
The big picture: Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has argued that the current Campo Largo is not enough to build a credible alternative to Meloni.
- For Valbruzzi, the problem goes deeper: the actual boundaries of the alliance remain unclear.
- The center-left opposition should therefore adopt a more pragmatic and minimalist approach, he argued, particularly while the future of Italy’s electoral system remains uncertain.
Rather than attempting to build a comprehensive common platform by adding together the priorities of every party, the opposition should focus only on the limited number of issues where agreement already exists.
- “That sum will never add up,” Valbruzzi said. “Paradoxically, but not too much, in the campo largo it is subtraction that makes the total.”
Zoom in: Foreign policy, defense, and relations with NATO remain among the most difficult issues for the potential coalition. Valbruzzi sees the European Union as the only realistic common ground.
- Moving debates over international affairs, defense, and NATO toward the European level could provide a point of convergence for political forces ranging from Nicola Fratoianni and Conte to Renzi and Riccardo Magi.
- That agreement, too, would emerge primarily through “the subtraction of their differences,” he said.
What we’re watching: The decisive variable may be Italy’s electoral law. Under the current system, Valbruzzi said, relatively “light” alliances can compete without common programs or a single recognized leader, requiring mainly coordination over shared candidates in single-member constituencies.
- The electoral reform currently under discussion would require a more cohesive and demanding form of alliance.
- That would raise the political costs of the center-left’s unresolved divisions and require a degree of unity that, according to Valbruzzi, is currently missing.
The bottom line: Italy’s center-left may not need to resolve all its contradictions to challenge Meloni. But whether ambiguity, minimal coordination, and political “subtraction” remain viable strategies could ultimately be decided by the rules under which the next election is fought.
