In Italy, the coalition partners continued their consultations on Sunday for a possible majority in Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government. While the Social Democrats and the faction around Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio are clearly in favor of Draghi remaining in office, the right-wing parties Lega and Forza Italia do not seem to fear new elections in the autumn. The Five Star Movement is demanding concessions from Draghi in order to remain in the multi-party coalition.
Forza Italia boss Silvio Berlusconi met Lega leader Matteo Salvini in Sardinia on Sunday, where they discussed the political situation. The cohesion in the multi-party coalition around Prime Minister Mario Draghi has broken down, the two party leaders stated. It is now a matter of waiting for developments and preparing for new elections, even at short notice, according to a joint statement by the two party leaders on Sunday evening. Going on with the left-wing populist Five Star Movement, which triggered the government crisis on Thursday, is ruled out because of its “incompetence and unreliability”.
Foreign Minister Di Maio warned of the danger of new elections in Italy should no agreement be reached with the Five Stars. “If things continue as before, Draghi will resign before Parliament on Wednesday. And between Thursday and Friday, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, will dissolve the chambers,” said Di Maio. The danger is that important reforms for Italy will come to a standstill.
“Even if there were an election at the end of September, it would take three weeks to form the chambers of parliament and at least another two weeks to form the government,” warned the former head of the co-governing Five Star Movement. According to Di Maio, the country would not be able to get any legislation or budget in place while the government was being formed. The important EU billions for the Corona reconstruction fund are also on the brink. To do this, Italy must first implement specified goals in the form of reforms.
The Five Stars, which triggered a government crisis on Thursday, are taking the time to comment on the future of the multi-party coalition. A meeting of five-star parliamentarians scheduled for Sunday to discuss political developments has been postponed to Monday afternoon. Opinions are divided within the movement: a wing around party leader Giuseppe Conte is pushing for a withdrawal from the governing coalition, which would lead to new elections on September 25 or October 2. A more moderate wing around the Minister for Relations with Parliament, Federico D’Incá, is trying to keep the “Cinque Stelle” in the coalition. A government overthrow would bring the reform process to a standstill, argues D’Incà.
Party leader Conte is demanding guarantees from Draghi that the government will push through the movement’s political priorities such as a minimum wage and the receipt of the “Reddito di cittadinanza”, a kind of basic income for people below the poverty line, in the coming year. Conte is demanding the implementation of a nine-point program that the group submitted to the prime minister a few weeks ago as a condition for remaining in the multi-party coalition.
According to a poll on Saturday, the majority of Italians are against early parliamentary elections. The Roman daily “La Repubblica” reported that 53 percent of Italians are against new elections in autumn. According to the survey conducted by the opinion research institute Izi Spa, 51 percent of those questioned are in favor of Prime Minister Mario Draghi remaining in office with a different coalition than the current one.
55.5 percent are of the opinion that if Draghi resigns, a government of experts should be set up to lead Italy until the end of the legislature in spring 2023. “The majority of Italians believe that the parties will not be able to find a new prime minister at Draghi’s level,” the report said.
The cut-off date for Italian politics is Wednesday, when Draghi plans to report to the Senate on the current situation. He could continue as head of government or there could be early elections. The trigger for the political crisis was the five-star movement’s abstention in a confidence vote in the Senate on Thursday.