MILAN (AP) – Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is testing his already low popularity by provoking a political crisis that could plunge the Italian coalition government into the coronavirus pandemic at a critical time.
Renzi orchestrated the resignations of two ministers from his small but important Italia Viva party. The outcome of his showdown will become clearer this week when Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte addresses both houses of parliament. If Conte makes a successful bid for support, he could continue to form his third coalition government since Italy’s 2018 election.
RENZI’S POWER GAME
This is not the first invasion of Renzi as an iconoclast that has shaken up Italian politics. He became prime minister in 2014 by maneuvering the then fellow member of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, and dismissing him without ceremony as the leader of Italy. Renzi himself came to power almost three years later after acting his popularity at a failed constitutional referendum.
Now the 46-year-old former mayor of Florence Conte can get out of hand. He broadly accuses the prime minister of not properly managing the coronavirus crisis. Renzi says he only follows his conscience, at great political cost.
‘Italia Viva did not start with the crisis. It has been going on for months, ‘he said during a press conference last week.
Renzi, a senator for the Italia Viva party, supported Conte during an earlier, failed coup by Matteo Salvini, the leader of the right-wing league party that was part of Conte’s first government.
New polls show that Italian coalition partner Italia Viva has the support of only 2.4% of respondents, compared to a high of 6.2% at the founding of the party. Italia Viva was created in September 2019 when Renzi bolted down the Democratic Party he once ran. He took with him two cabinet members, which was the kind of leverage he used last week.
CONTE’S NEXT MOVEMENT
With the resignation of Italia Viva ministers, Conte is working to sharpen support in parliament among independent lawmakers. He still has the support of the Democratic Party and the 5-star movement, which has criticized Renzi’s move as irresponsible.
Conte will file his case in the lower house on Monday and at the Senate on Tuesday. A vote will take place after each appearance, which amounts to a vote of confidence.
If he does not get enough support, Conte will probably submit his resignation to Italian President Sergio Mattarella. In that case, a technical government can be established. Analysts believe an early election is the least likely outcome, due to the difficulty of holding a political campaign and election during the pandemic. There are also concerns that the right-wing opposition will gain strength and possibly lead a new government. The current majority wants to hold at least until January 2022, when a new president is to be elected.
Conte can survive to lead his third government by amassing enough support in both houses. And it is still possible that Italia Viva will recover its support.
WHAT IS BACK
Italy expects to have 222 billion euros ($ 268 billion) in economic recovery funds for the European Union, money that is essential for the modernization of the country and its faltering economy.
While Conte had wide support in the first half of 2020 during Italy’s devastating handling of the coronavirus, cracks in its popularity occurred during the even more deadly autumn revival. Four months after the government’s system of restricted restrictions, newly confirmed daily infections remain stubbornly high, and Italy’s pandemic death toll of 81,800 is the second highest in Europe after Britain.
Conte’s government is also under fire for failing to keep high schools open during the pandemic, a decision that has mostly been linked to inadequate transportation to give up social distance. And there are concerns that Italy does not have enough medical staff to carry out the country’s vaccination campaign.
But the crisis was finally spurred when Conte put forward a plan that would control himself over the management of the EU recovery funds. Political analyst Wolfgang Piccoli calls it ‘the ultimate mistake’, and introduces Renzi’s move to assert his own ‘prominence’.
Italians show little patience for the political battles as the country’s priority is to get the coronavirus pandemic under control and carry out the vaccines that many hope will end the country’s long nightmare of the coronavirus. In a new poll, 42% of Italians said they did not understand what the latest government divide was provoking.
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