This archive report was first published on 20 August 2019.
Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte Resigns Amid Government Crisis ¶
Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced his resignation on Tuesday, August 20, 2019, in the face of a mutinous power play by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
Conte accused Salvini of 'political opportunism' and disregard for Italy's institutions, thrusting the country into a 'vortex of political uncertainty and financial instability.'
Salvini responded by saying he would do everything the same again and did not fear the judgment of the Italians, unlike others in the Parliament who were simply frightened that elections would lead them to lose their jobs.
Italy's President Sergio Mattarella will now begin the process of consulting with party leaders to see if a new majority can form yet another Italian government. If not, he is likely to call for early elections, potentially as soon as October.
The demise of the coalition between the hard-right, anti-migrant League party, led by Salvini, and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement has thrust Italy into a renewed period of crisis and political chaos only 445 days after the unlikely partners took power.
During the government's short tenure, the nationalist-populist coalition struck fear into the heart of the European establishment, with its antagonism toward the European Union, its flouting of the bloc's budgetary laws, its demonization of migrants, and its embrace of President Vladimir V. Putin's Russia and his strongman politics.
Conte expressed regret that the government could not continue to compile achievements, which its critics consider all but nonexistent, and vented his anger at Salvini, accusing him of exploiting Catholic symbols on the campaign trail and of failing to answer accusations that his League party had secretly sought funding from Russia.
Salvini's popularity has doubled to nearly 40 percent, considered a ceiling in Italy's fragmented politics, as he has consistently outflanked and embarrassed the inexperienced, and often incompetent, Five Star Movement.
Five Star's support halved, making elections perilous for its members' continued employment in Parliament. This month Salvini used the government's paralysis on infrastructure projects as a rationale to announce the death of the government — 'the majority is no more,' he said — as he called for new elections.
