Italy’s 14-month populist government looks set to finally collapse Tuesday after months of infighting and gridlock, paving the way for “unpredictable” outcomes.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is due to speak at the Senate at 3.00 p.m. (1300 GMT), two weeks after his deputy, Matteo Salvini, unexpectedly said he wanted to bring down the government.
Conte is likely to defend his record and shoot back at Salvini and then face a confidence vote or spontaneously tender his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella.
According to Barclays Bank analyst, Fabio Fois, “the move will officially trigger one of the most unpredictable government crises in modern Italian history’’.
Salvini’s original idea was to force early elections.
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As the leader of the poll-topping far-right League party, he could have expected to win the ballot and inherit the premiership.
With Salvini, a fan of authoritarian rulers like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and former euro-exit campaigner, Italy would veer further to the right and off the EU mainstream.
His estranged coalition ally, the Five Star Movement (M5S), is trying to thwart Salvini’s plans by forming an alternative government with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
It is unclear whether this could work, given historic PD-M5S enmities.
It might also play into Salvini’s hands by casting him as a victim of a back-room deal to shut him out of power.
Once Conte resigns, Mattarella is expected to hold consultations with political party leaders to see if an alternative government can be formed or if early elections are the only solution to the crisis. (NAN)
