In the middle of the corona pandemic: Italy's Prime Minister Conte is about to resign

Monday, January 25, 2021

In the middle of the corona pandemic
Italian Prime Minister Conte is about to resign

After days of crisis, Italy's government is about to end. Prime Minister Conte wants to offer his resignation tomorrow, Tuesday. Observers expect that he wants to buy time to forge a new coalition. In new elections, the right-wing League threatens to win.

Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte plans to offer his resignation in a cabinet meeting tomorrow, Tuesday. The government announced in Rome that evening. Conte had narrowly won two votes of confidence in parliament last week. Nevertheless, his minority government has since stood on a shaky basis in parliament.

According to media reports, the previous center-left coalition is hoping that Conte could once again be commissioned by the head of state to form a new government. Conte's ruling alliance since September 2019 was broken on January 13th by the departure of the small party Italia Viva of the former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The background was a dispute about the use of EU aid funds in the corona pandemic. Since then, the non-party prime minister and his partners – the Five Star Movement, the Social Democrats (PD) and a small left party – have tried to find new supporters in parliament.

In the course of this week, the coalition faced a symbolic defeat in a vote on judicial policy in the Senate – the smaller of two chambers of parliament in Rome. The government said that Conte wanted to convene the cabinet at 9:00 a.m. There he will declare his will to submit his resignation to the head of state. Then he wanted to go to the president.

New election could bring Salvini to power

In Rome it was expected that the old partners would probably want to try to form a new, expanded government alliance. The 56-year-old lawyer Conte could be at the top again. Fundamental decisions for this, however, are in the hands of the head of state Sergio Mattarella. It plays an important role in times of crisis. After the end of the government, he can appoint a politician to form a new government. If no majorities can be found, he can obtain an early election.

The best solution is a government with broad support, said Nicola Zingaretti, head of the social democratic PD. "The PD does not want or plan a new election." That is risky and must be avoided. Instead, the PD wanted a "binding, pro-European government with a broad parliamentary base".

On Friday, top politicians from the anti-establishment party 5-Star Movement and the PD brought a new election into play – two years before the end of the legislative period. According to observers and experts, they wanted to increase the pressure on indecisive senators. According to opinion polls, a new election would probably win the right-wing opposition, led by the Lega of ex-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. In addition, the number of seats was reduced by a third as part of a parliamentary reform. This will take effect in the next election. This, too, should increase the willingness to compromise in a number of MEPs.