News from Italy
The government crisis has gotten serious!
Vita gazette- Ukraine policy and economic blows cracked the coalition government led by Mario Draghi. The 5 Star Movement, led by Giuseppe Conte, one of its latest government partners, found the amount of the “financial support package” insufficient and boycotted the security vote, turning the government into a “patient in intensive care”. The government won the no-confidence vote without the support of the 5 Star Movement, but the results of the political tension within the government are eagerly awaited.
In February 2021, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was appointed as Italy’s new prime minister, after one of his government partners, Matteo Renzi, withdrew from the coalition government led by Giuseppe Conte. Draghi formed a coalition government that included most of the parties in the parliament. The 5 Star Movement, one of these coalition parties, has been objecting to Draghi’s Ukraine policy and economic policies, especially arms aids, especially in recent weeks. The crisis over Ukraine policy led to a split in the 5 Star Movement, and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio left the party with the deputies acting with him and formed a new group.
Finally, the disagreement about the financial support package brought to the Senate today announced the extent of the crisis in the government to the world. The package, called the “aid decree”, was prepared to cover the increased cost of living after the Corona and Ukraine crises. The package covers employees and businesses from all walks of life. The leader of the 5 Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte, stated that the package of approximately 26 billion euros was insufficient and his own proposals were not taken into account, and announced that they would abandon the vote instead of giving approval to the package in its current form. And during the vote of confidence held in the Senate today, 5 Star members did not vote by leaving the general assembly.
The no-confidence vote in the 321-seat Senate resulted in 172 votes in favour. Although the government did not lose the vote of confidence, the outcome of the political tension is eagerly awaited. It’s because of Draghi. Because the Prime Minister was constantly stating that for the functioning of the government, the coalition with broad participation should continue. And recently, he said, “There is no government for me without the 5 Star Movement.”
If Prime Minister Draghi resigns and the government falls, many scenarios have already begun to be voiced, including early elections. “If one of the parties in the government does not support the government’s decree, it is obvious that elections should be held,” said Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, one of the parties in the coalition government. The opposition Brothers of Italy party, which is expected to receive the most votes in the event of an election, calls for early elections after the crisis.
Those who take into account that the next general elections will be held in the first half of 2023, consider it among the possibilities that if the government falls, a transitional government will be formed under the leadership of a new prime minister until next year’s elections. It is also an alternative for the government to continue on its way by being submitted to a vote of confidence in both houses of the parliament.
Having completed its establishment and development through social media, the 5 Star Movement received more than 32 percent of the vote in the 2018 general elections, surprisingly becoming the largest party in the country. And since then, he took part in all three coalition governments. However, the 5 Star movement, which has experienced internal conflict and lost dozens of parliamentarians in recent weeks due to Ukraine and Di Maio’s speeches outside of his party’s policy, has also experienced a decrease in votes according to the polls.
On the other hand, the right-wing Brothers of Italy, which received around 4% of the vote in the 2018 elections, seems to be the party with the most support in the country. It is thought that the biggest reason for this is the fact that the Brothers of Italy did not participate in the broad coalition government led by Draghi, their stable stance, the right statements at the right time and the advantage of the opposition.