Matteo Salvini, the strongman of the government in Italy and head of the League (far right) on Thursday called for early elections as "quickly" as possible, decreeing the breakup of the ruling coalition. "Let's go straight to Parliament to take note that there is no more majority (...) and quickly give the floor to the voters," he demanded in a statement, released after a series of meetings between leaders policies. "It is useless to go ahead with" no "and disputes, as in recent weeks, Italians need certainty and a government that works," he added.
Throughout the day, consultations took place between the head of government Giuseppe Conte and President Sergio Mattarella, and between Giuseppe Conte and Matteo Salvini. Matteo Salvini was making a transparent allusion here to his allies of the 5 Stars Movement (M5S, antisystem) and his Minister of Infrastructures, Danilo Toninelli, fiercely opposed to the Lyon-Turin TGV project.
The holidays of power, "not an excuse" according to Salvini
The crisis in the coalition was triggered by the last vote of the parliamentary session on this rail link. The M5S found itself voting a motion against this high-speed French-Italian link, while the League supported two opposition motions in favor of the project. Matteo Salvini denounced in his statement "repeated insults to me and the League from so-called allies", Danilo Toninelli having recently described as "dwarf sitting on the shoulders of giants".
The political crises in Italy usually do not occur in summer, but Matteo Salvini felt that it did not matter. "Holidays can not be an excuse to waste time and parliamentarians can come back to work next week, as millions of Italians do, unless they want to save their privileges," concluded the head of the League.