An Italian Political Crisis

By Henry Srebrnik, [Saint John, NB] Telegraph-Journal

 

Italy’s populist parties reacted with fury on May 27 when their attempts to form a government broke down after the country’s president vetoed their choice of finance minister, a harsh critic of the European Union’s common currency, the euro.

Under Italian law, the president has the right to reject the appointment of a cabinet member, but his decision angered the two-party populist coalition.

Nearly three months after a general election on March 4, hopes that the country would have a government formed by Luigi di Maio’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the nationalist euro-sceptic League led by Matteo Salvini, were dashed.

The two parties were set to form Western Europe’s first populist government, and wanted Paolo Savona, an economist and banker who has been highly critical of the euro, to join their government.

Together, they won more than half of the overall vote and insisted that their choice of cabinet ministers was an essential part of their democratic mandate.

But Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s nominally non-partisan president, saw otherwise, blocking Savona for the portfolio. He warned that Savona posed a risk “for Italian families and their savings.” Italy has second-highest debt level in the EU, after Greece.

Salvini has asked for a new election. “In a democracy, if we are still in democracy, there’s only one thing to do, let the Italians have their say,” he told supporters in a speech.

He called the crisis the death throes of a political establishment intent on keeping Italy “enslaved.”

Di Maio, too, called the rejection unacceptable. “It's an institutional clash without precedent” and “the darkest night of Italian democracy.” 

What was the point of voting, he asked, “if ratings agencies” make the decisions. He wants Mattarella to be impeached.

Adding fuel to the fire, EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger on May 29 told a reporter he hoped financial markets would teach Italians not to vote for populists.

Salvini called Oettinger’s comments “threatening” and showed a “German desire for hegemony and control.” He warned Brussels against meddling.

Savona has described the euro as a “German cage” for Italy. Not one to mince words, he has accused Berlin of trying to achieve by economic means what it failed to do in the Second World War -- the domination of Europe. 

This will be seen by many Italians as a Davos-instigated “coup d’état” by a ostensibly non-partisan head of state against a legally constituted coalition government. 

Many Italians what happened in 2011 during a previous economic crisis, when Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was ousted and replaced by former EU commissioner Mario Monti.

That suspicion will be strengthened by Mattarella’s decision to ask Carlo Cottarelli, a former official with the International Monetary Fund, to form a caretaker government.

All of this moves the troubled EU, of which Italy is a founding member and its fourth-largest economy. With Italy challenging its unity, the EU is now a step closer to disintegrating.