The Italian Prime Minister, mario draghiverified this Wednesday that it maintains the support of Parliament, one day after the schism that has broken in two the main partner of his broad coalition, the 5 Star Movement (M5S)who continues to support him.
As required by the perfect Italian bicameral system, Draghi appeared before the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday, after doing so yesterday in the Senate, to present his position on the war in Ukraine before this week’s European Council.
It was a relevant parliamentary appointment that took place only one day after the main party of his coalition, the M5S, was divided by the split of his leader until 2020, Luigi Di MaioForeign Minister, and another 60 parliamentarians.
However, after listening to his speech, in which he confirmed that he will follow the same line as until now, with the European Union (EU), the government coalition parties voted unequivocally in favor of a thorny joint resolution on Ukraine.
But although the Government can sleep peacefully, the waters of Italian politics continue to be agitated by the division and weakening of the M5S, which yesterday ceased to be the first force in Parliament.
At the heart of the matter, among other things, is a resolution voted on today in which the majority parties set the position on Ukraine that Draghi will have to defend in Brussels.
The text, approved by the Lower House by 410 votes in favor and 29 againstsummons the Government to ensure that any decision in the international arena that has to do with that war passes first through Parliament, including the sending of weapons to the resistance.
“This request does not weaken the Government, but rather strengthens it,” justified the M5S spokesman in the Chamber, Davide Crippa, by proclaiming his support for the Executive. This despite the fact that the M5S and its leader, Giuseppe ConteThey have pressed -unsuccessfully- in recent weeks to include a point whereby Italy would refuse to send more military material to the Ukrainians to favor a “diplomatic solution”.
Di Maio, head of Foreign Affairs, considered this “ambiguity” in his party unacceptable and, after accusing its leaders of “weakening” the country by disaligning it from NATO and the EU, he decided to leave it and found his own political group.
In this way Di Maio, also confronted with the leadership of the party for his electoral blows, has announced his departure along with 60 other parliamentariansapproximately, with those who founded the group “Insieme per il futuro” (Together for the future).
The Five Star thus loses half of its seats in the Chamber of Deputies alone and, as Di Maio warned on Tuesday, at the time of his farewell, it is no longer the main force in the country.
And it is that in the convoluted Italian politics it is usual that when an exponent leaves his party he takes his loyal parliamentarians with him. The same thing happened in 2019 with the divorce between matthew renzi and the Democratic Party (PD), from which it snatched 43 seats.
In this scenario, the M5S, which exceeded 30% of the votes in the 2018 general elections, has lost its power by dividing in favor of the far-right Salvini League, crowned as the new first force of the Hemicycle.
Before an even more fragmented Chamber of Deputies, where those loyal to Di Maio join a swarm of parties and small groups, the prime minister went this Wednesday to demand “unity” in the face of the difficult decisions that will have to be made on Ukraine.
The economic, energy, social and food crises that derived from the conflict, he defended, they are neither the fault of the EU nor of the West, but of the Kremlin for initiating the invasion, and he unequivocally defended the sending of arms to the kyiv resistance. “Unity is essential right now because the decisions we have to make are very difficult,” he warned.
His words aroused a resounding applause from his sympathetic bench, but also provoked criticism from some rebels such as those of the “Alternativa C’è” party, another split from the M5S, who displayed posters of “No to war” or “Stop sending weapons”.
A country in pre-campaign
In the midst of this political storm, Draghi will try to conclude the legislature in March 2023, as he was commissioned in January 2021, when he was called to form an emergency government after the resignation of his predecessor, Giuseppe Conte, due to lack of support for.
But the imminence of the electoral campaign, which will begin to be felt after the summer break, will inflame the spirits between the parties of his coalition. And no one rules out that the M5S tries to win back its most anti-system electorate, lost these years.
For the time being, Conte is expected to convene the remaining deputies and senators in the next few hours to study the rupture suffered by his formation, weaker than ever, but which will continue to support Draghi, at least for now.
Discussion about this post