Italy in limbo after Conte resigns as PM

Political crisis has raised concerns about eurozone's third-largest economy

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned on Tuesday after lashing out at far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for pursuing his own interests by pulling the plug on the government coalition.

The move left the eurozone's third-largest economy in a political vacuum until Italian President Sergio Mattarella decides whether to form a new coalition or call an election after talks with other parties in the coming days.

Mattarella charged Conte with heading a caretaker administration after he handed in his resignation, pending consultations on a new government which are set to begin on Wednesday afternoon local time.

"I'm ending this government experience here," Conte said after an almost hourlong speech to the Senate.

"It is irresponsible to initiate a government crisis," Conte said after Salvini tried to bring down the government in the hope of snap elections he believes will make him premier.

Conte was speaking following a week of fallout from Salvini's decision to back out of the alliance between his League party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, or M5S, on Aug 8, plunging Italy into political turmoil.

After Conte announced his intention to resign, Senate speaker Elisabette Casellati told Salvini to leave the government bench and join his party's senators, where Salvini said: "Thank you, finally, I would do it all again."

Full powers

"The Italians vote with their heads and hearts," Salvini said, invoking the Virgin Mary to "protect the Italian people" and repeating his call for snap elections while also making a final appeal to M5S.

Caught on the back foot, Salvini last week made the surprise offer to back a key M5S proposal to cut the number of lawmakers from 950 to 605, but only if new elections were then swiftly held.

"Making citizens vote is the essence of democracy. Asking them to vote every year is irresponsible," Conte said as League senators booed and hissed.

"I heard you calling for 'full powers' and invoke (demonstrations in) the piazzas to support you, which worries me," Conte said.

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1922 assumed so-called full powers to govern the country at his whim.

After more than four hours of debate, Conte returned to speak before going to Mattarella's office at the Quirinale Palace.

"If there was a lack of courage, then I assume responsibility before the country," Conte told the Senate as Salvini fidgeted nervously.

"And I note that the leader of the League who has struggled with loyal cooperation lacked the courage to assume responsibility for his behavior," Conte said.

The end of the 14-month-old coalition government opens the way for Mattarella to begin consultations with political parties, with a range of options available.

A snap election, the forming of a new coalition without holding a new vote, and, although unlikely, the continuation of the current government would all be considered.

Debt ratio

The political crisis has raised concerns about the Italian economy, whose debt ratio at 132 percent of GDP is the second-biggest in the eurozone after Greece.

Since the unwieldy government was formed in June 2018, uncertainty under the coalition has cost the country an extra 5 billion euros ($5.55 billion) in interest on its debt.

Salvini's plan for a snap election - more than three years early - had envisioned a vote in October followed by his being crowned as prime minister.

According to opinion polls, the League could form a coalition with the anti-immigration Brothers of Italy, and possibly Silvio Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia.

But a bid by his rivals to put aside their differences and forge an alliance could derail Salvini's plan, with a coalition between M5S and the opposition center-left Democratic Party being discussed.

Agencies - Xinhua

(China Daily 08/22/2019 page11)