The towel burns between the League and the 5-Star Movement. Matteo Salvini, the strongman of the Italian government and leader of the League, on Thursday (August 8th) demanded a return to the polls, shattering the populist coalition that had been established with his populist ally and provoking a crisis with an uncertain outcome.
"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, broadcast after a series of meetings between political leaders. "It is useless to go ahead with 'no' and disputes, as in recent weeks, Italians need certainty and a government that works," added the Deputy Prime Minister of the League (far right).
Italian media reported on August 20 to vote on a motion of censure that would bring down the government, with a dissolution of Parliament in the following days.
Throughout the day, consultations took place between the head of government Giuseppe Conte and President Sergio Mattarella on the one hand, and between Conte and Matteo Salvini on the other. Luigi di Maio, the other deputy prime minister and leader of the M5S (antisystem), remained locked up to "work" in his office at the Chigi Palace, the seat of government, without being invited to the talks.
A crisis caused by the project of high speed line
The crisis in the coalition was triggered by the last vote of the parliamentary session on the Lyon-Turin line on Wednesday. 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", in an allusion to the Minister of Transport, Danilo Toninelli, who described the government's strongman as "dwarf sitting on the shoulders of giants ".
Political crises in Italy usually do not occur in the summer, let alone in the middle of August, but Matteo Salvini felt 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 state. League.
The League in a position of strength
The tension between the two former government allies, the League and the M5S, had been brewing for long weeks, especially since the European elections, which resulted in a League triumph and a bitter failure for the Movement.
These elections marked a turnaround from the legislative elections of March 2018 that had awarded the M5S more than 32% of the vote and the League about 17%. The Europeans saw the League smash all forecasts by getting more than 34% of the vote, about double the M5S, falling to about 17%.
Since the ballot, all Italian observers have been wondering how long Matteo Salvini was going to grant Giuseppe Conte's government before dropping it, with polls giving him 36/38% of voting intentions, or even more, potentially allowing him to do so. to rule almost alone, or with the support acquired in advance of the neo-fascist party Fratelli d'Italia.
Luigi di Maio, who has been heavily contested internally and has not been very aggressive since the Europeans, who were already following a series of defeats in local polls, has only said that his movement "is ready" to return to the polls.
The great unknown is the reaction of the head of state, Sergio Mattarella, who alone has the power to dissolve Parliament, after consulting the presidents of both Houses and key political leaders before calling a vote.
But Sergio Mattarella is notoriously opposed to elections in autumn - September-October - when the government must prepare the budget for next year, discuss with Brussels and submit it for adoption in Parliament.
According to the agency AGI, the Senate could meet on August 20 to declare the end of the government majority and Parliament could be dissolved a few days later. New elections should then be convened within 50 to 70 days, according to the Italian Constitution.
With AFP