Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is due to resign on Tuesday, according to a government spokesman, adding to political instability that could lead to hasty elections in a country struggling to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and revive its economy.
Conte stepped down after losing his governing majority in the Italian Senate earlier this month after a fight with a small coalition ally over how to spend huge funds offered by the European Union to help Italy recover from the impact of the pandemic. His resignation sparked a search for a new majority in the government, but if none are found, then the EU’s third largest economy is expected to hold elections in the coming months.
The collapse of Italy’s left-wing government shows that Europe’s political challenges in recent years – including the fragmentation of the political landscape and the rise of anti-establishment parties – have not disappeared, despite the pressure that the pandemic is exerting on European politicians together through party lines.
Mr. Conte chaired a strange coalition, led by the center-left Democratic Party and the populist 5 Star Movement, an alliance aimed primarily at preventing elections that opinion polls suggest would be won by the League’s nationalist party. Few people in Italy expected the government to last long, although the pandemic for a while has increased Conte’s authority.
In the end, it was a small centrist faction, led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who withdrew support for Conte, citing unhappiness with his lack of consultation on how to spend the more than € 200 billion in EU economic recovery funds earmarked for the Italy.