November 13, 2024
The Italian government is on the brink
The government has used the pandemic to evade scrutiny. It’s time Italians had a say.
The government has used the pandemic to evade scrutiny. It’s time Italians had a say.

The Italian government was plunged into a political crisis last Wednesday when two ministers from the Italy Alive party, led by former prime minister Matteo Renzi, resigned from the government. Italy Alive has also withdrawn its parliamentary support for the government. As a result, the remaining government coalition of the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement and the small Free and Equal party lost its working majorities in both houses of parliament. The government now needs to find around 25 lawmakers in the lower house and 18 in the upper house if it is to maintain even a fragile majority.

Renzi has been critical of the government’s €200 billion Covid-19 Recovery Plan, especially its lack of spending on health, culture and infrastructure. The plan is based on the money Italy is likely to receive in loans and grants over the next six years from the EU budget. Although some revisions to the Recovery Plan were made to placate Renzi, he has objected to the government’s refusal to apply for a further €37 billion from the EU’s European Stability Mechanism (ESM). While the Democratic Party supports applying to the ESM, the Eurosceptic Five Star Movement opposes this, fearing that the EU would add political conditions to any additional funds. No other member state has tapped the ESM for funding during the Covid crisis for this very reason.

Renzi has also raised concerns about the lack of political accountability for the governance of the Recovery Plan, which he views as an insult to parliament. He has been rightly critical of the government ruling by decree and ignoring parliament during the pandemic more broadly. Yet Renzi is hardly in the best position to critique the government’s lack of respect for democracy given that he was appointed prime minister in 2014 without ever standing in a national parliamentary election.

Recently, Renzi has been widely rebuked for manoeuvring to gain more personal political influence. But the most common and vitriolic attacks against Renzi by leading politicians have argued that it is inherently wrong to contest the government during the pandemic. For instance, the day before Renzi withdrew his support from the government, the caretaker leader of the Five Star Movement, Vito Crimi, said that ‘pulling out would effectively sabotage the country’. Crimi accused Italy Alive of ‘betraying the Italian people at the most difficult time’.

[Interesting Read]

See Also:

(1) The EU’s culture war is only just beginning

(2) Norway denies ‘direct link’ between deaths of 33 elderly people and Pfzier Covid vaccine they received

(3) Boris rages at EU’s trade deal extension demand ‘you have reasonable time!’

(4) No more extensions! EU had their chance and now it’s time to leave

(5) Mrs May saw Brexit as a damage limitation exercise and did deep harm to UK

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