Wednesday, March 27

Anti-crisis measures ease tensions in the Italian government


Correspondent in Rome

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“I remain optimistic, the government is not at risk because the national and Italian interests are the most important thing. When the Government was born I said that it could not be done without the 5 Star Movement and I still think so». With these words at a press conference, the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, wanted to put an end to speculation about the risk that the Executive was running after the tension aroused with the 5 Star Movement, which led to a convulsive political day .

Draghi anticipated his return to Italy on Wednesday night, after dinner at the Prado Museum, without attending the last day of the NATO Summit. Officially, Mario Draghi’s decision was linked to the important Council of Ministers this Thursday, which adopted measures to contain the electricity and gas bill.

After the meeting of the Executive, Draghi explained some of the decisions adopted: «Urgent measures have been approved to support the purchasing power of families; we reduce VAT and reinforce the social bonus; we intervene to increase the storage of natural gas and helps families with their bills. Without these measures, a disaster would have occurred, with increases of up to 45% ».

Draghi ruled out the risk of a government crisis, but the climate of certain tension that has been felt in the Executive for months, due to the serious crisis and divisions of the M5E, has not been eliminated. The spark that caused a convulsive political day was the interview of the sociologist Domenico De Masi, a consultant for the 5 Star Movement, published on Wednesday, in which he stated that Draghi had asked Beppe Grillo, founder of the M5E, to dismiss the former Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, as leader of the M5E. Conte was irritated and attacked Draghi: “I think it is serious that a technical prime minister interferes in the life of the political forces that, in addition, support the Government. I am baffled by the request to remove me.” Conte then went to the Quirinal Palace where he had an hour-long conversation with the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.

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For the moment, Giuseppe Conte has confirmed his support for the Government. Also Draghi, who on Wednesday night denied that he had asked for Conte’s dismissal, held a meeting at the Quirinal with President Mattarella on Thursday morning.

The beginning of the problems

At the origin of the tension that exists in the Government with the 5 Star Movement is the implosion experienced by the party founded by the comedian Beppe Grillo. On June 21, Luigi Di Maio, openly opposed to Giuseppe Conte, left the party and was followed by at least 60 parliamentarians, who form a group in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate under the name of ‘Together for the future’. The 5 Star Movement, which became the first party in the country in the March 2018 elections, with almost 33% of the votes, today after the split does not reach 10% in intention, while a Di Maio party does not reaches 5%.

Apart from the open front in the Government by the 5 Star Movement, another source of tension is the League. Its leader, Matteo Salvini, has been irritated with his government partners, the Democratic Party and the M5E, because they have presented two bills in Parliament: one to liberalize cannabis and another to introduce the ‘ius scholae’, that is that is, on the granting of citizenship, for resident foreign minors, after a five-year study cycle in Italy. If approved, 900,000 young people would obtain Italian nationality, 65% of them were born in Italy.

Matteo Salvini considers that, taking into account the economic situation and the war in Ukraine, this is not the time to present these two bills. For this reason, Salvini speaks of “a serious attack on the government, which creates a dramatic division among the forces that support Draghi.”

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The tension opened by Conte and Salvini in the Government is not new, but it has been accentuated especially after their poor results in the second round of the municipal elections last Sunday. Both are losing consensus. From different positions, Conte and Salvini are seen united in his “guerrilla” against Draghiin order to have a more prominent political role and to be noticed in public opinion with a view to the general elections scheduled for next spring.

“There is no crisis”

When Mario Draghi was asked at the press conference about the tensions created by the League and the M5E, the prime minister’s response was categorical: “I don’t understand why they want to get me into this mess, I don’t enter into the dynamics of the Movement 5 stars”. And faced with the insistence on whether Conte and Salvini want to leave the Executive, Draghi replied: “I don’t know, ask them, so far they haven’t done it.”

In short, Mario Draghi rules out a crisis: «The last Executive of the legislature will be with me as Prime Minister». But it seems clear that until the next legislative elections he will be forced to make strenuous mediation efforts between the six parties that make up the national unity government. Draghi is considered today, by a very large majority, as the best possible prime minister in the current political and socioeconomic situation.

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