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UPDATE: Italian government faces crisis as ministers quit

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's government was plunged into crisis on Wednesday after the Italia Viva party pulled out of the ruling coalition.

Published: 13 January 2021 19:05 CET
UPDATE: Italian government faces crisis as ministers quit
Italian ex-PM and head of the 'Italia Viva' party, Matteo Renzi, holds a press conference at the Italian Chamber of Deputies in Rome. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/POOL/AFP

In a long-threatened move, former premier Matteo Renzi announced on Wednesday evening that ministers from his Italia Viva party would withdraw, leaving Conte without a formal majority in the Senate.

READ ALSO: Italy's political crisis: Why now, and what happens next?

Renzi said that how the crisis panned out from here was “up to the prime minister”.

“We are ready for all kinds of discussions,” he told a televised press conference in Rome.

Matteo Renzi holds a press conference on Wednesday evening. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/POOL/AFP

The current government coalition is comprised of three parties: the populist Five Star Movement (M5S), the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and Renzi's smaller Italia Viva.

A leading member of the PD was quick to condemn Renzi's move. Former minister Andrea Orlando said it was “a serious mistake made by a few which we will all pay for”.

Without Italia Viva's 18 senators, Conte will now need new friends in the Senate, although his majority is large enough in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies.

Renzi has been criticising Conte for weeks over a range of issues but his attacks homed in on the government's 222-billion-euro post-virus recovery plan, largely paid for in grants and loans from a 750-billion-euro European Union fund.

Though there were concerns that Renzi's protests would delay the recovery fund, Conte's government received parliamentary approval for their plan on Wednesday.

What happens now?

Conte could resign, there could be a reshuffle, or even snap elections – all the options remain on the table.

“At this stage, the outcome of this crisis is very uncertain. Elections do not look very likely at the moment, as some parties (such as Forza Italia and Italia Viva), which currently maintain a sizeable number of MPs would see their parliamentary power reduced in case of elections,” said Nicola Nobile, Italian economist at Oxford Economics.

Conte is reportedly now trying to gather support for a new majority from small parties and independent candidates.
 
More likely possible outcomes include “a cabinet reshuffle and Renzi’s party obtaining some more important seats”, the formation of a new government under Conte, or the current government continuing with a new prime minister.
 

 
Early elections would only take place in the event that none of the other options were workable.
 
Renzi said early elections were not what he wanted.
 
Opinion polls suggest that early elections would likely hand power to a coalition of right-wing parties, led by Matteo Salvini's League.

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POLITICS

Italy’s Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

The president of Italy's northwest Liguria region and the ex-head of Genoa's port were among 10 arrested on Tuesday in a sweeping anti-corruption investigation which also targeted officials for alleged mafia ties.

Published: 7 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Italy's Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

Liguria President Giovanni Toti, a right-wing former MEP who was close to late prime minister Silvio Berlusconi but is no longer party aligned, was placed under house arrest, Genoa prosecutors said in a statement.

The 55-year-old is accused of having accepted 74,100 euros in funds for his election campaign between December 2021 and March 2023 from prominent local businessmen, Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto Spinelli, in return for various favours.

These allegedly included seeking to privatise a public beach and speeding up the renewal for 30 years of the lease of a Genoa port terminal to a Spinelli family-controlled company, which was approved in December 2021.

A total of 10 people were targeted in the probe, also including Paolo Emilio Signorini, who stepped down last year as head of the Genoa Port Authority, one of the largest in Italy. He was being held in jail on Tuesday.

He is accused of having accepted from Aldo Spinelli benefits including cash, 22 stays in a luxury hotel in Monte Carlo – complete with casino chips, massages and beauty treatments – and luxury items including a 7,200-euro Cartier bracelet.

The ex-port boss, who went on to lead energy group Iren, was also promised a 300,000-euro-a-year job when his tenure expires, prosecutors said.

In return, Signorini was said to have granted Aldo Spinelli favours including also working to speed up the renewal of the family’s port concession.

The Spinellis are themselves accused of corruption, with Aldo – an ex-president of the Genoa and Livorno football clubs – placed under house arrest and his son Roberto temporarily banned from conducting business dealings.

In a separate strand of the investigation, Toti’s chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, was placed under house arrest accused of “electoral corruption” which facilitated the activities of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra Mafia.

As regional coordinator during local elections in 2020, he was accused of promising jobs and public housing in return for the votes of at least 400 Sicilian residents of Genoa.

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