The attempt of the Italian president Mattarella to form a government of technocrats failed. After the latest consultations the composition of the coalition government of the League and 5 Stars Movement, headed by Giuseppe Conte, was finally agreed. In fact, the 5SM leader of Luigi Di Maio Di Maio turned the spotlight on the fate of democracy in Italy and asked to what extent politicians were ready to respect the people’s will, writes the Programme director of the Valdai Discussion Club Oleg Barabanov.
The two political forces – the Five Star Movement and The League (formerly the Northern League) – which together won the majority of votes in the March 4 parliamentary elections, have come to terms, after long intrigues, not only on the Cabinet’s composition but, which is also important, on its strategic program.
This unified program has shown that the “old” (The League) and the “new” (Five Stars Movement) oppositions to the pro-EU political mainstream in Italy have managed to avoid scattering their forces and rise above the settling of accounts. They thought better of bickering about which of them “really” expressed the aspirations of the citizenry (who were sick and tired of the old system) and which was simply imitating protest. I described the dangers of a split (between the right and the left or between the “new” and the “old”) in the protest movement both in Italy and Western Europe as a whole on the Valdai Club website a month ago.
As a result of the compromise, the two leaders – Matteo Salvini of The League and Luidi Di Maio of the Five Stars – withdrew their names from consideration as prime minister and promoted a neutral figure, professor of law Giuseppe Conte, to the post. The other ministerial positions were divided between the two parties with the inclusion of a large number of neutral professionals. During these few days, civil society in Italy, judging by social media, was absolutely euphoric, celebrating the fact that forces unrelated to the old establishment had managed to come to terms and that civic activists at long last would have a chance to influence the authorities and decision-making. On the other hand, European media and political circles in Brussels simultaneously launched a smear campaign meant to discredit the new Italian coalition. It was clear as day that its project is perceived as an extremely serious threat to the existing bureaucratic mainstream and status quo in the EU. The Italians, both politicians and citizens, were urged to “come to their senses.”
The first to do that was Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who blocked the candidacy of a Eurosceptic, Paolo Savona, for economy minister. Out of team solidarity, Giuseppe Conte withdrew from the process of forming the government and the crisis flared up anew.
The president’s decision (a ceremonial figure under the Italian constitution) and direct interference in the political process in a parliamentary republic was really unprecedented. The harshest reaction came from the Five Stars leader Luigi Di Maio, who stated in no uncertain terms that President Mattarella had unlawfully abused his constitutional powers and that the votes of more than half of Italians, who had voted for The League and the Five Stars (and consequently for a return to real civic control over politics), did not matter. As before, all the decision-making was in the hands of a behind-the-scenes Brussels lobby and the Italian president, who became its obedient tool. He stressed that Mattarella’s decision had really shown that Italy had lost its sovereignty. He also called for a campaign to impeach the President, describing his decision as “the darkest night in Italian democracy.” Those are very strong words in the context of the Italian political culture: By tradition, the “darkest night” is the night of May 9, 1978, when the body of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro, who was kidnapped and killed by the Brigate Rosse, was found in Rome.
The ghost of impeachment, even if verbal, stirred up Italian public opinion. Only one president in Italian postwar history, Giovanni Leone, resigned in 1978 against the backdrop of financial and political accusations, and another one, Enrico De Nicola, also had to step down under pressure in 1948, claiming poor health. But there was not a single case of impeachment.
What is involved is not Mattarella’s fate alone. Actually Di Maio turned the spotlight on the fate of democracy in Italy and asked to what extent politicians were ready to respect the people’s will. The notorious “deficit of democracy” in EU countries (and the EU as a whole), which triggered protest movements in many European countries, has acquired a new quality in Italy. And at this point it again makes sense to question the viability of the current European project as a whole. Earlier, the civic protest in Greece was successfully neutralized by the EU leaders and the highly moderate (after it came to power) Syriza party. This in turn led to a drop in the electoral popularity of the Podemos party in Spain. Brexit has failed to cause a chain reaction of EU disintegration and, on the contrary, has even rallied the other EU members behind Brussels. The French protests, both on the right and the left, were (at least for the time being) cut short by the Macron victory and today it is clear to everyone how the pro-Brussels lobbies rushed to support Macron during his election campaign. In Italy itself, we already saw the tough Brussels pressure in 2011, which led to the resignation of the Berlusconi government. Currently, Mattarella is doing what is on Brussels’ mind but Di Maio’s appeal may again push Italy into the forefront of protests against the European bureaucracy.
After Conte refused to form a government without Savona, President Matarella did not miss a beat and immediately called for a fully technocratic government with former IMF employee Carlo Cottarelli as prime minister. The League and the Five Stars perceived this as a new challenge. The reason for his promotion was not kept secret either: It was necessary to “sooth” Brussels and create a tractable government for financial discussions with the EU. Simultaneously it was announced that the Cottarelli government would be sworn in and start operations even if it failed to obtain a confidence vote in parliament (which is highly likely) and then new elections would be held within months.
But there were still further developments. On May 30, Di Maio had a new meeting with Mattarella and proposed a compromise: another candidate will be nominated for economy minister, but Savona will remain in the government and fill some other post. The League leader, Salvini, is so far skeptical. According to him, in politics, like in soccer, a center forward should play center and nothing else. Mattarella has suspended the swearing in of Cottarelli for 24 hours. In any case, the attempt to form a government of technocrats failed. After the latestconsultations of Italy, the composition of the coalition government of the League and 5SM was agreed. Newly-reappointed Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for the second time in a week presented a list of ministers to the President Sergio Mattarella. The new government will be sworn in on Friday. It is noteworthy, that the ardent eurosceptic Paolo Savona, who became an "apple of discord" whet the first government failed, will tale the post of the European affairs minister.
The dynamics are fluid in Italy and new changes may occur between the time of this article’s writing and publication. But the main thing is clear: Luigi Di Maio has posed a very simple and yet extremely difficult question to both his country and the whole of Europe: Is democracy real in the EU and will politicians respect the popular will? In so doing, he has clearly positioned himself as Italy’s leading politician of the moment and the future.
Views expressed are of individual Members and Contributors, rather than the Club's, unless explicitly stated otherwise.