After hearing the party leaders, the president of Italy has promised that the “crisis will be resolved soon” and announced that next Tuesday he will hold a new round of party consultations to assess whether there are conditions to form a new government with the support of a party. the alternative parliamentary majority.
The Italian political crisis will continue at least until next Tuesday. President of the Republic of Italy Sergio Mattarella gave a press conference later this afternoon in which he announced that he had decided to respond to the request made by various parties and to allow more time to seek a solution to overcome the transalpine political crisis.
Shortly after concluding the round of parliamentary parties that took place over the past two days, Mattarella spoke briefly about the “crisis of government” opened by the “controversial break.
“The crisis will be resolved soon,” said Sergio Mattarella, who has five times referred to the word “parliament”, signaling that any presidential decision will take into account the “inescapable duty”.
The president also noted the opportunity of this crisis officially installed by the resignation on Tuesday of Giuseppe Conte from the post of prime minister. The context of international uncertainty caused by signs of slowdown and trade dispute and Italy’s need to fulfill its obligations towards the European Union (specifically the choice of the Transalpine Commissioner and the adoption of a 2020 budget) were the factors highlighted.
Having said that more than one political force asked him for more time to evaluate and discuss the existing conditions for finding a solution, Mattarella left no indication of what direction to take.
He did not mention whether he favors the formation of an alternative government majority to the 5-Star League alliance, nor what kind of alliance is contemplated moving forward with the return to the polls or even admitting a technocratic executive.
To conclude, he revealed that next Tuesday he will hold another nine consultations with party leaders to conclude whether or not the conditions are now in place to forge a new government solution.
Back to square one and everything is possible
Since the president has left no indication of the path he has taken to emerge from the crisis since the League leader and deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini proclaimed the end of the government and called for early elections, all hypotheses remain unchanged. on the table.
And all are really all. Although the relationship between Salvini and Luigi Di Maio’s 5 Star Movement has come to a breaking point, the League leader said today, after speaking with Mattarella, that he was “available” to resume “without grudges” governance with the grilling.
However, Salvini reiterates that the preferred scenario remains the early return to the polls, which is not unnoticed by the fact that the League dominates the polls, which point to the possibility that the League could get the majority together with the Brothers of Giorgia Meloni’s Italy for a far-right executive.
Government P5 Stars-PD is a real possibility
Not addressing now the scenarios of technocratic government of presidential initiative, formula not popular especially after the experience of Mario Monti, and new elections, which Mattarella would prefer to avoid to create embarrassment to the approval of the budget of 2020, on as a strong hypothesis an alliance between the two parties currently most represented in parliament: 5 Stars and PD.
The parties led by Di Maio and Nicola Zingaretti, respectively, meet for the first time on Friday, and one of the key points that could cause the most friction is defining who could lead such a solution. A prime minister from one of the parties could be badly received by his partner, so in this case, the solution could be to resort to an independent name, as was Giuseppe Conte.
After yesterday he pointed out five key points that a 5 Star deal would have to foresee, this Thursday Zingaretti translated them into “three non-negotiable principles”, which he also communicated to Mattarella. Namely: abolition of the two internal security decrees with Salvini’s imprint; pre-agreement (prior to possible government agreement) on key economic measures to be included in next year’s budget; rejection of constitutional reform whereby the 5 Stars wants to cut by 345 the number of parliamentarians (deputies and senators). The constitutional reform proposed by former PD leader and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi provided for a reduction in the number of deputies and senators.
The PD leader rejects a “government at all costs” and defends the need for a “government of change”.
For its part, the 5 Stars has made Mattarella a top priority to avoid new elections and full readiness to form a “solid majority” of government. Di Maio has never ruled out regaining his league alliance, something Salvini assumes as a hypothesis, but may not have dismissed that scenario as a strategy to gain strength in negotiating with the PD.
In his conversation with the president, Di Maio also listed 10 points that he considers decisive to avoid early elections and to guarantee the governance until the end of the legislature, scheduled for 2023. None of them is in clear contradiction with the demands made by the PD, so the question of Prime Minister to be appointed and the issue of changes to the political system appears as the main obstacles to understanding.
Favoring agreement is the fact that both parties want to avoid a return to the polls and safeguard the “harmonization” of Salvini’s Italian policy, which calls for “full powers” to implement the League program.
The clock is ticking.
