The recent clash between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump sent shockwaves across Europe, exposing the continent’s deep political fractures. The European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen’s response — a €800 billion military spending plan dubbed “ReArm Europe” only exacerbated divisions across the continent, including within the pro-EU camp.

Take Italy, where Michele Serra, a columnist for center-left daily La Repubblica, called for a demonstration in defense of European integration against Trump’s bullying tactics. The event, intended to showcase a unified European front, instead highlighted growing tensions between centrist liberal forces and the pro-EU left. While the former demanded the demonstration be used to display unconditional support for rearmament, the latter — more skeptical of Von der Leyen’s militarization agenda — argued for a focus on peace and Europe’s fundamental values.

In the end, about 30,000 people showed up at the March 15 demonstration — mostly aging members of what historian Paul Ginsborg once called Italy’s “reflexive middle class” as noted by Giuliano Santoro. This was the same liberal crowd that used to power the movement against Silvio Berlusconi’s outrages but now finds itself clinging to a vague, hollow notion of “Europe.” The messages delivered during the event were contradictory — and swung between a banner saying “ReArm yes, even like that” and another stating “Italy rejects war, No ReArm Europe.”