MILAN (AP) – Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is testing his already low popularity by provoking a political crisis that could tear down the Italian coalition government at a critical time for the coronavirus pandemic.
Renzi orchestrated the resignations of two ministers from the small but key Italy Viva party. The outcome of his power game will become clearer this week, when Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte addresses both chambers of parliament. If Conte makes a successful bid for support, he could continue to form what would be his third coalition government since the 2018 Italian elections.
THE POWER OF RENZI
This is not Renzi’s first foray as an iconoclast that shakes Italian politics. He became prime minister in 2014, overcoming maneuvers and unceremoniously deposing Enrico Letta, a member of the then Democratic Party, as Italy’s leader. Renzi himself fell from power almost three years later, after playing his popularity in a failed constitutional referendum.
Now the 46-year-old former mayor of Florence could bring down Conte. In general, he accuses the prime minister of not properly managing the coronavirus crisis. Renzi says he is only pursuing his conscience, at a high political cost.
“Italia Viva has not started the crisis. It’s been going on for months, “he said at a news conference last week.
Renzi, senator of the Italia Viva party, supported Conte during a previous, failed takeover of power by Matteo Salvini, the leader of the right-wing party in the League that was part of Conte’s first government.
New polls show that junior coalition partner Italia Viva has the support of only 2.4% of survey respondents, down from a high of 6.2% at the start of the party. Italia Viva was created in September 2019, when Renzi hit the Democratic Party he once led. He brought with him two members of the Cabinet, offering him the type of leverage he had hired last week.
NEXT MOVE ACCOUNT
With the resignation of Italia Viva ministers, Conte is working to support parliamentary support among independent parliamentarians. He still has the support of the Democratic Party and the 5 Star Movement, which criticized Renzi’s movement as irresponsible.
Conte will present his case in the lower house on Monday and in the Senate on Tuesday. A voice vote will take place after each appearance, equivalent to a vote of confidence.
If he fails to gain enough support, Conte will resign from Italian President Sergio Mattarella. In this case, a technical government could be set up. Analysts believe that early elections are the least likely outcome, due to the difficulty of organizing a political campaign and elections during the pandemic. There is also concern that the right-wing opposition would gain strength and lead a new government. The current majority would like to remain at least until January 2022, when a new president must be elected.
Conte can survive to lead what would be his third government, covering together enough support in both houses. And it is still possible for Italia Viva to regain its support.
WHAT IS THE STAKE?
Italy expects to have 222 billion euros ($ 268 billion) in EU economic recovery funds to manage, money that is essential for the modernization of the country and its weak economy.
While Conte had widespread support during the devastating Italian coronavirus trial in the first half of 2020, cracks appeared in his popularity during the even more lethal renaissance of autumn. Four months after the introduction of the government-wide restriction system, new confirmed daily infections remain stubborn, and the number of the 81,800 pandemic in Italy is the second highest in Europe after the UK.
Conte’s government is also under fire for not keeping high schools open during the pandemic, a decision especially related to inadequate transportation to allow for social distancing. And there is concern that Italy does not have enough medical staff to carry out the country’s vaccination campaign.
But the crisis was finally stimulated when Conte presented a plan that would have been put in charge of managing EU recovery funds. Political analyst Wolfgang Piccoli called it a “supreme mistake,” establishing Renzi’s move to reaffirm his “prominence.”
Italians are showing little patience for political struggles, when the nation’s priority is to control the coronavirus pandemic and launch vaccines that many hope will end the long nightmare of the coronavirus. In a new poll, 42% of Italians said they did not understand what the latest government divisions had caused.
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