Five Star Movement (M5S): The balance sheet shows over 2 million in assets, but more than 4 million are missing from the elected representatives.

With over two million euros in assets, the Five Star Movement's accounts are smiling on Giuseppe Conte . The budget , ending on December 31, 2024, shows a surplus of €2,107,792 and over €10 million in cash (€10,52,679, to be precise, mostly deposited in banks). A nice nest egg for the former prime minister in times of austerity following the abolition of public funding for political parties. The coffers are mainly filled by the 2xmille IRPEF funds, amounting to €2,739,399 (€431,319 collected as of April 2025), and the boom in "individual contributions," as they are known in the jargon, meaning contributions from parliamentarians, regional councilors, and private individuals, which are estimated at a total of €2,537,273. These contributions should not be confused with the money these same elected officials contribute to the devolution movement, which accounts for €584,700 in the budget.

The "Conti" movement receives no contributions from businesses, i.e., legal entities, but only from associations, parties, and political movements, amounting to €90,112, a donation paid in full by the M5S Electoral Committee for the European Elections - Pesco Daniele. Indeed, the election campaign for the Strasbourg Parliament represents one of the most expensive expenditures for the Five Star Movement—excluding Nova, the two-day event that concluded the Constituent Assembly, which sanctioned the expulsion of Beppe Grillo , and whose cost was not disclosed by Treasurer Claudio Cominardi . Of the €195,077 million the Five Star Movement budgeted for election campaigns, €62,194 million was used for the latest European elections. For example: for the regional elections in Sardinia, won by a hair's breadth by Alessandra Todde , the first regional president representing the 5 Star Movement, 'only' 68,260 euros were spent, and even less was spent on the countryside in Piedmont (28,400 euros), Liguria (20,99 euros), Emilia-Romagna (6,73 euros) and Umbria (a solid 10,000 euros).

Not only that, but among expenditure items, specifically core operating expenses, the Five Star Movement spent €4,297,620: €1,295,522 went to services, €690,17 for the use of third-party assets, €1,5,974 went to contributions to associations and committees; and another €962,46 are the funds the Five Star Movement allocated, in 2024, to provisions, broken down by risk (€103,406), for donations and operating expenses (€584,700), and for 'provisions pursuant to Article 3 of Law 157/1999' (€273,940). Another 279,856 euros are reserved for personnel, including salaries (211,844 euros) of the five full-time, permanent employees (three managers and two office workers), social security contributions (52,844 euros), severance pay (14,617 euros) and other costs (511 euros).

The more than €10 million in "liquid assets" recorded in the financial statements are broken down as follows: €5,41,721 in the Intesa San Paolo account is for management purposes, €133,296 in a PayPal account, €1,409.60 on a prepaid card, and "just" €19.28 in cash. €4,876,526 (available in the same bank's account) refers to so-called parliamentarians' donations and represents, Cominardi explains in the explanatory notes, "refunds made by elected spokespersons, in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations regarding the economic treatment of elected representatives of the Five Star Movement." Specifically, the former MP further specifies, these are "restricted resources, reserved for initiatives of primary collective, social, or public interest, non-profit, whose use occurs following a resolution by the competent bodies of the Association."

In this regard, over the course of 2024, the Five Star Movement 'returned' €850,000 to the community. Another €150,000 was donated in January to the Municipality of San Lazzaro di Savena for the purpose of conducting a hydrogeological and hydraulic study to secure the Zena stream and its valley. "With this donation," Cominardi adds, "the will expressed by the Assembly of Members in the December 11, 2023, vote (to allocate €1 million to the population affected by the May 2023 flood) has been fully implemented." Indeed, in May, €180,000 was donated to the Municipality of Forlì for the "Restart of the Romiti Multipurpose Hall" project, and €240,000 to the Municipality of Cesena for the restoration of the building located on Via Ex Tiro a Segno, which will be used as a headquarters for associations and a neighborhood social center. In July, €280,000 went to the Municipality of Faenza to purchase vehicles to restore public greenery maintenance, while in October, €150,000 was 'returned' to the parish of Santa Maria del Voto in Romiti, in the province of Forlì-Cesena, for the reconstruction of a multi-purpose basketball and volleyball court.

But all that glitters is not gold. After deducting the "devolutions" and the €2,673,866 in "freely donated contributions subject to joint declaration," of which MP Gilda Sportiello is the biggest contributor, with €72,250 donated to the cause, followed by Pietro Lorefice , with €61,100, and Filippo Scerra , with €50,500, the Five Star Movement reports €4,305,553 in its balance sheet as "credits." Specifically, €2,845,462 should be paid by MPs and regional councilors as elected officials, and another €1,460,900 is missing from MPs as severance pay.