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How likely is impeachment of the Italian president?

Calls for Italian President Sergio Mattarella to be impeached for rejecting the choice of eurosceptic populists for economy minister will not succeed, analysts said Monday amid warnings of an institutional crisis in the eurozone's third largest economy.

Published: 29 May 2018 09:52 CEST
How likely is impeachment of the Italian president?
Sergio Mattarella at the presidential palace. Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

Mattarella faced impeachment calls after refusing on Sunday to accept the nomination as economy minister of Professor Paola Savona, an 81-year-old economist who has called Italy's entry into the euro a “historic mistake”.

The president's move pitted him against the democratically elected populist winners of March elections, with the far-right League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement enraged by the decision. Most analysts however say a call for Mattarella's impeachment by Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio, has little chance of success since it is only possible in cases of “high treason” or for “acting against the constitution”.

LATEST: Italy's caretaker PM assembles a cabinet almost certain to be rejected

“President Mattarella has only exercised his constitutional powers”, said Massimo Luciani, president of the Italian Constitutionalists Association.

Demands to “impeach” Mattarella have no substance as he used his powers “like other presidents before him”. said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg,

Balance of power

The Italian president's role is largely ceremonial but also includes the power to appoint the government.

In a country which has had 64 governments since World War II, their role as a referee above the political fray has often been viewed as essential, and strengthened the president's image as a guarantor of the country's stability.

“(If Mattarella) had given in, bowing to the threats, the balance between the powers of the state would have been brutally broken,” wrote left-wing newspaper La Repubblica.

But Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, close to the Five Star Movement, wrote: “King Sergio blows up everything”.

Italy has a government debt burden of 2.3 trillion euro ($2.7 trillion). Mattarella justified his veto decision by citing concern from investors at home and abroad over the nomination of fiercely eurosceptic Savona and the possible impact on the markets.

Instead the president has nominated Carlo Cottarelli, a pro-EU, International Monetary Fund (IMF) veteran, to head a caretaker government which may only last through August after which elections will likely be held.

Known as “Mr Scissors” for making cuts to public spending in Italy, Cottarelli is a deeply unpopular pick among Five Star and League members, whose hopes of forming a coalition have been shattered, at least for now.

'Lack of legitimacy'

Nobel economic laureate Paul Krugman warned that the political developments in Italy could have implications for the whole EU project.

“Faith in the single currency trumps democracy? Really?” he wrote on Twitter.

“European institutions already suffering lack of legitimacy due to democratic deficit. This will make things much worse.”

Eurosceptic politicians from across the continent also condemned the developments in Italy.

“The European Union and the financial markets are again confiscating democracy. What has happened in Italy is a coup d'état,” French far-right leader Marine Le Pen wrote on Twitter.

Leading Brexit campaigner and former leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage, said on Twitter: “Italian voters will be furious that the establishment is blocking new ministers. Time for more elections and bigger votes.”

But others praised Mattarella's stance. French President Emmanuel Macron, a pro-Europe centrist, said his Italian counterpart was fulfilling his role as the guarantor of the country's institutions with “courage and responsibility”.

RECAP: How did Italy end up in political crisis?

By Olivier Baube

MIGRANT CRISIS

Charity warns Italy’s ban on migrant rescue planes risks lives

A migrant rescue charity warned on Thursday that a new Italian ban on using surveillance planes to spot migrant boats in distress in the Mediterranean could endanger lives.

Published: 9 May 2024 15:14 CEST
Charity warns Italy's ban on migrant rescue planes risks lives

Italy’s civil aviation authority Enac issued orders in the past week saying charities will have their planes seized if they carry out “search and rescue” activities from airports in Sicily.

The move follows restrictions placed by far-right premier Giorgia Meloni’s government on charity rescue ships as it attempts to fulfil its election pledges to curb arrivals, which soared to around 158,000 last year.

Nearly 2,500 people are known to have died in 2023 trying to cross the central Mediterranean, a 75 percent increase on the previous year, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).

READ ALSO: What’s behind Italy’s soaring number of migrant arrivals?

“This is definitely another attempt to criminalise search and rescue,” Giulia Messmer, spokesperson for the German charity Sea Watch, told AFP.

Sea Watch has two planes, the Seabird 1 and 2, but if they “are not able to fly anymore”, the planes “cannot communicate spotted distress cases” to authorities and ships able to carry out rescues, she said.

Enac says it is up to the coastguard, not charities, to perform search and rescue operations. The ban applies to the airports of Palermo and Trapani in Sicily, as well as the islands of Lampedusa and Pantelleria.

IN NUMBERS: Five graphs to understand migration to Italy

The IOM told AFP that while it was “waiting to understand its actual implementation, we are concerned that this decision may hinder life-saving efforts”.

Sea Watch warned the planes do not only play a vital role in spotting boats at risk of sinking, they also document the behaviour of the Libyan coastguard, often accused of violence towards migrants.

‘Political propaganda’

Immigration lawyer Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo told AFP the order issued by Enac was based on “a partial and contradictory reconstruction of national and international laws governing search and rescues”.

It was a political move, “a warning, during the election campaign” for the European Elections, he said.

Sea Watch on Twitter also called the move “an act of cowardice and cynicism… for political propaganda”.

Enac answers to Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-immigrant League party.

READ ALSO: ‘More will drown’: Italy accused of breaking international law on migrant rescues

Messmer, 28, said the Seabird 2 flew on Wednesday from Lampedusa despite the ban and the charity “plans to continue flying in the coming days”.

There were no issues getting the necessary authorisation from the airport to take off and land, she said.

Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, was elected to office in 2022 promising to stop migrant boats arriving from North Africa.

Her government has brought in a law obliging charity ships to stage only one rescue at a time and they are often assigned ports in Italy’s distant north, making missions longer and more expensive.

Rome has also signed a controversial deal with Albania by which migrants from countries considered to be safe will be intercepted at sea and taken straight to Italian-run centres in Albania.

Critics say the deal is expensive and will prove ineffective because the two centres will only be able to hold a maximum of 3,000 people at a time and asylum applications are notorious slow.

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