Far-right League leader licks his wounds after gambit to collapse Italian government fails
Less than a month ago, Matteo Salvini was in his element, drinking mojitos, DJing and posing for countless selfies at Papeete, his favourite beach club in the seaside resort town of Milano Marittima. He had good reason for his ebullient mood: his far-right League party in Italy was nearing 39% in the polls.
Related: Salvini sidelined as M5S and Democrats agree Italy coalition
Continue reading...Parties to try to form government in move that would avert snap elections
Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic party (PD) have agreed to try to form a new government in a move that could avert snap elections and push the far-right League into opposition.
Italy plunged into chaos this month after Matteo Salvini withdrew his League party from its fractious alliance with M5S as he sought to exploit the party’s popularity to bring about snap elections and become prime minister.
Continue reading...Choice of PM proves main obstacle as PD and M5S try to head off far-right coalition
The name of the next Italian prime minister is the main hurdle in talks between the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic party (PD) as they scramble to form a new government by Tuesday and avoid early elections that could put Matteo Salvini at the head of a far-right coalition.
The PD leader, Nicola Zingaretti, has objected to demands from his M5S counterpart, Luigi Di Maio, to reinstate Giuseppe Conte as prime minister. Conte resigned on Tuesday, ending the ill-fated 14-month alliance between M5S and the far-right League.
Continue reading...Sergio Mattarella said that without a stable coalition Italy would have to head to the polls
Italy’s president has given the country’s main political parties four more days to negotiate the formation of an alternative government after the collapse of the stormy alliance between the far-right League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S).
Sergio Mattarella said on Thursday night that the crisis must be “resolved quickly” and that without a solid majority the only other option would be new elections.
Continue reading...Ex-PM Matteo Renzi’s plan may stave off elections that could lead to fully far-right government
The leader of Italy’s centre-left Democratic party (PD) has warmed to a potential alliance with its long-time rival, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), in an attempt to stave off snap elections that threaten to create western Europe’s first fully far-right government since the second world war.
Nicola Zingaretti, who was elected PD party leader in March, relented to the prospect of forming a government with M5S on condition it lasts until the end of the legislature in 2023. “A possible new government must be a turning point, lasting the term, or it is better to go to the polls,” he said after a meeting with PD members on Wednesday morning.
Continue reading...President could call snap election, seek new coalition or install caretaker government
“This government ends here,” said Giuseppe Conte, as he announced his resignation as Italy’s prime minister on Tuesday. After almost two weeks of twists and turns, what happens next is far from clear.
The president, Sergio Mattarella, is now calling the shots in a crisis triggered when Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on the League’s tenuous relationship with the Five Star Movement (M5S) in an attempt to capitalise on his popularity and become PM.
Continue reading...Conte has told Italy's senate he is stepping down because of a decision by the far-right League, which is led by the interior minister, Matteo Salvini, to pull the plug on its populist alliance with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. Conte says he will officially inform the country's president, Sergio Mattarella, of his decision later on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Giuseppe Conte tells Italian Senate that far-right leader has triggered political crisis to serve his own interests
Giuseppe Conte has resigned as Italy’s prime minister after blasting Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League, as an “opportunist” for triggering a government crisis that could have “serious consequences” for Italy.
Conte said he would formally resign his mandate to the president, Sergio Mattarella, after the close of the debate in the Senate on Tuesday.
Continue reading...His energetic stint at the helm of Italy’s government was brought to a juddering halt when, in 2016, he was effectively sacked by voters after suffering an embarrassing defeat in a constitutional referendum. Now Matteo Renzi is back, casting himself as the man to save Italy from the potential grip of a far-right government led by the League’s Matteo Salvini and calling on all “responsible politicians” to back him to thwart the extremist threat. He is re-entering the fray, he insists, for the sake of the country’s future – and not to reignite his own career.
“For my personal rating and consensus it would be better to stay silent,” Renzi told the Observer in an exclusive interview last week. “But Salvini must be stopped, and it’s important to give a strong message – there is an alternative.”
Continue reading...Matteo Salvini reiterates call for snap vote as his party plans motion to dismantle coalition
Italy appears set for fresh elections that could push the country further toward the far right.
Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister, reiterated his calls for a snap vote on Friday, adding that any attempt to block his wishes and install a new ruling coalition would be unacceptable. His League party said it would present a no-confidence motion in the senate in its push to dismantle the tempestuous coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S).
Continue reading...Far-right leader takes unusual step in effort to drum up support in south of country
Matteo Salvini is taking his perennial campaign to Italy’s beaches as the far-right leader seeks to whip up more support before widely-anticipated new elections.
The Italian parliament officially begins its summer break at the end of the week, but Salvini, deputy prime minister and interior minister, is finishing on Wednesday to begin what the Italian media are calling his “beach tour”.
Continue reading...Bickering between the League and M5S has intensified since European elections
The fate of Italy’s coalition government lies with the far-right deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, a day after the prime minister threatened to resign if Salvini’s League and its coalition partner, the Five Star Movement (M5S), could not patch things up.
Giuseppe Conte, a law professor who was plucked from obscurity a year ago to steer the coalition, issued the ultimatum to Salvini and M5S’s Luigi Di Maio during a press conference on Monday night, urging them to set aside their many differences and “revive the spirit” of the coalition government’s early days, or seek new elections.
Continue reading...Virginia Raggi allegedly put pressure on CEO to push company into the red
Rome’s beleaguered mayor is facing calls to resign after allegedly putting pressure on the former chief of the city’s waste disposal firm to fudge the company’s accounts.
Virginia Raggi is accused of putting “undue pressure” on Lorenzo Bagnacani to manipulate the 2017 balance sheet of rubbish disposal firm AMA, with the objective of pushing the company into the red. Raggi sacked Bagnacani in February.
Continue reading...City council appears to capitulate after protesters set cars on fire and destroy food
Hundreds of neo-fascists, far-right activists and local residents took to the streets of a Rome suburb on Tuesday in a violent protest against 70 Roma people, including 33 children and 22 women, who were to be temporarily transferred to a reception centre in the area.
Demonstrators set fire to cars and bins, destroyed food that was meant for Roma and prevented their entry into a shelter for vulnerable people.
Continue reading...Move by Five Star and League senators follows intervention by Matteo Salvini
Italy may scrap its requirement for parents to provide proof that their children have been vaccinated before they start nursery.
The senate’s health committee is expected to pass an amendment dropping the obligation next week, sparking further controversy over the populist coalition government’s ambiguous vaccine policy. The measure would then be put to parliament.
Continue reading...Bocelli to sing for China’s president as Italy becomes first G7 nation to back ‘Silk Road’ plan
Rome gave a lavish welcome to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, his wife and entourage on Friday as Italy and China controversially pledged to strengthen trade and investment ties.
Xi is in the Italian capital on a two-day state visit, along with about 200 officials. He is expected to strike a range of deals worth up to €7bn and attend a gala dinner, where the tenor Andrea Bocelli will perform, during his visit.
Continue reading...Leaders set to endorse Italy’s role in ‘Silk Road’ trade network during Xi Jinping’s visit this week
Italy has signalled its determination to play a central role in China’s grand plan to build a Silk Road-styled global trade network, despite rattling its EU and US allies with its plan.
The country’s populist government is poised to endorse its participation in Beijing’s $1tn Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global trade project aimed at connecting Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe via a network of ports, railways, tunnels and other infrastructure, by signing a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) during the Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Italy this week.
Continue reading...President of Lazio, Nicola Zingaretti, is tipped to win, but needs 50% of the vote
Voters took to the polls on Sunday to elect a new leader to represent Italy’s centre-left Democratic party, as the embattled group strives to re-establish itself as a credible force against the country’s rightwing populist government.
The vote is seen as a litmus test for the strength of the party and comes a year after its administration was ousted in an embarrassing defeat in general elections that led eventually to the formation of a coalition government between the far-right League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S).
Continue reading...The French ambassador’s recall ought to remind Italy’s populist leaders that they need some friends in Europe
Diplomatic etiquette would normally classify the recall of an ambassador for “consultations” as a middle-order symbol of displeasure. During the cold war, the summoning, or withdrawal, of an ambassador was mundane. More recently, Hungary pulled its ambassador from the Netherlands in 2017, in response to criticism by the outgoing Dutch ambassador in Hungary.
Related: France recalls Rome envoy over worst verbal onslaught 'since the war'
Continue reading...Move comes after Italian deputy PM met leaders of the anti-Macron gilets jaunes
Paris has taken the extraordinary step of recalling its ambassador from Rome, in the worst crisis between the two neighbouring countries since the second world war.
France blamed what it called called baseless verbal attacks from Italy’s political leaders, which it said were “without precedent since world war two”.
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