Italian President Appoints Caretaker Government New Elections in late 2018

[Y_Participant 4591]

Italian President Appoints Caretaker Government New Elections in late 2018[1][2][3]

Russia Today
28 May 2018

In round one of what will be a protracted battle, the prospective prime minister Giuseppe Conte has resigned; the leader of Five Star has called for the president to be impeached; and the president has invited former International Monetary Fund director, Carlo Cottarelli, to form a government instead.

Italy’s PM-designate Giuseppe Conte said he’s given up on attempts to form a government after President Sergio Mattarella rejected his candidate for Economy Minister. The country may now face a new election by the end of 2018

“President [Mattarella] has received Prof. Giuseppe Conte …. who returned the mandate given to him on May 23 to form the government. The president has thanked him for his effort in fulfilling this task,” Ugo Zampetti, an official within the presidential administration, told RAI.

Mattarella told the media that he “agreed to all the ministers except the finance minister” proposed by the coalition. “I asked for a figure, who would mean not risking an exit from the euro,” he explained.

As for the possibility of a new election, the president said that he will “take decisions on the basis of how the situation evolves in parliament.”

The president had summoned Conte to his office in order to find a way to break the two-months-long deadlock on forming the coalition government after a similar meeting on Friday ended fruitlessly.

The candidacy for economy minister has been the main stumbling block for the creation of the new cabinet in the country. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and its rightist coalition ally Lega Nord, which won the most parliamentary seats in the March vote, insist on having Paolo Savona in the vital role.

M5S was outraged by Mattarella’s decision, with 5-star leader Luigi Di Maio calling it “an institutional clash without precedent” in a Facebook live video.

“What’s the point of going to vote if it’s the ratings agencies that decide?” Di Maio fumed.

Di Maio went on to say that Italy is “not a democracy,” as the coalition, which holds 60 percent of the seats in parliament, is being prevented from forming the government of its choosing.

Mattarella earlier deflected the blame, saying he was not responsible for blocking the formation of the government, as he had proposed alternative candidates for the economy minister position, but they were all turned down by the coalition.

Paolo Savona is a distinguished economist who served as the industry minister in 1993-94 and also worked at the Bank of Italy. But Mattarella has been refusing to appoint the 81-year-old due to concerns over his criticism of euro, the EU and Germany’s economic policies.

In a book, which Savona co-authored in 2015, he argued that Italy should have a “plan B” to leave the eurozone with minimum damage if the situation calls for it.

Earlier on Sunday, Savona made a public statement to clarify his views, saying that he stands for “a different Europe, stronger, but more equal.” He said that he believes Italy’s debt should be reduced through targeted investment and stimulation of the economy, but not austerity or tax cuts.

After the coalition’s bid to form a new government failed, Mattarella summoned Carlo Cottarelli, a former senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to his office. President Sergio Mattarella announced his decision to make ex-IMF director Carlo Cottarelli interim prime minister on Monday.

In remarks given shortly after, Cottarelli vowed to establish a new government “very quickly” and tackle pressing issues ahead of fresh elections to be held in the fall or early next year.

However, Italian journalist Marcello Foa told RT that Cottarelli’s chances of forming a new government are “non-existent,” noting that the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and its rightist coalition ally Lega Nord are unlikely to support Cottarelli’s efforts because they would then “lose all credibility with the voters.” The two parties were the top performers in March’s parliamentary elections and have spent the last two months negotiating the formation of a coalition government.

John Laughland, a British academic and author on international affairs, said that Mattarella’s recent political maneuverings were the symptom of a larger, European trend. “I don’t think it’s a constitutional crisis in Italy, I think it’s a constitutional crisis in the whole of Europe,” Laughland told RT. “We’ve seen now systematically how members of the European elite, of which President Mattarella is an excellent example, use every method they can to prevent parties wielding power if that power is to be wielded against the euro or against the European Union.”

Laughland observed that the president – who is not elected by the Italian people – had stonewalled the formation of a government that “would have been supported by the parliamentary majority which has just been elected. In other words, it has an impeccable democratic mandate.”

According to Foa, Mattarella’s recent political posturing has been motivated by a desire – perhaps even an “obligation” – to protect “the markets” and Italy’s status quo with the European Union.

Lorenzo Pregliasco, professor of political science at the University of Bologna, believes the president was quite clear about the reasoning behind his recent decisions. Mattarella had “basically said we cannot afford to have a minister of finance who is such a vocal critic of the euro currency,” Pregliasco told RT.

Italians have been theorizing as to why Mattarella, who himself said he feared Savona would quit eurozone and that he must “protect Italians’ savings,” was so insistent on blocking Savona’s appointment

“What’s being said is that there are some mysterious powers behind the scene that are taking over,” Foa noted, adding that many Italians believe that Mattarella was somehow “obliged” to sabotage the formation of the new Euroskeptic government.

“I don’t know if he was pressured by Brussels, but what we can see is, since the beginning of the crisis, [Mattarella] had a major concern: Italy should not divert from the direction that it has been following in the last years.

To make matters worse, the media’s one-sided reporting has exacerbated the political crisis, Foa noted. Italy’s media were “totally against the [new] government. Totally. I mean, there was no real diversity – just a few newspapers [supported the coalition]. The others were all giving Mattarella’s version of the crisis. The Italian press has not been an example of freedom of pluralism,” Foa said

University of Milan politics professor Marco Bassani agrees that new elections will have the same outcome as the previous one, but stated that the situation could become a vicious cycle. “Let’s say Italians go to the elections in two or three months… clearly the Five Star movement and the Lega Nord will win again. So they will go there with the same list of ministers. So what happens? Will the president say no again? It could go on forever, this is like a stalemate,” he told RT.

When asked whether he believes Mattarella’s decision was guided by Brussels, he answered in the affirmative. “Was it imposed and was it something that came from Brussels? The answer is yes. I don’t know whether it was in a direct way or indirect way.”

Both parties of the coalition have spoken out against Mattarella’s decision, with Five Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio calling for the president’s impeachment. Lega leader Matteo Salvini, meanwhile, summed his views up by saying: “In a democracy, if we are still in a democracy, there’s only one thing to do, let the Italians have their say.” He added that Italy is not a “colony” and that “we won’t have Germany tell us what to do.”

Citations
[1] https://www.rt.com/news/427972-italy-coalition-government-fail-savona/
[2] https://www.rt.com/news/428003-italy-pm-government-elections/
[3] https://www.rt.com/news/428108-italy-euroskeptics-government-rejection/

[UntamedParticipant]

That’s their Democracy in action.

And the sheep will keep voting, watch.

Don't let them Blame, Shame or Tame you!
Give 'em NOTHING, not even an answer!
#GenderSegragationNow!

[MonkParticipant 16995]

It’s the usual EU trick – if the election/referendum returns a result that you don’t like, hold another one and keep doing so until it does.

That’s what they did in Ireland, are preparing to do in the UK, and are trying to do in Scotland.

[Faust For ScienceParticipant 22522]

Will this new appointed government amnesty the illegal invaders, pass high taxes, and abolish publicly speaking out against the EU policies?

Say what you will about the U.S. form of government, but there is no way for one body of elected government from preventing another body of elected government taken their rightful elected positions.

[743 roadmasterParticipant]

Takes a long time to get points out of this debate. Around 31:31 on the timer gets to the feeling I think when people are calling what happened as a coup d’etat.
A battle between Brussels and the Italian people.

mgtow is its own worst enemy- https://www.campusreform.org/

[743 roadmasterParticipant]

https://youtu.be/-xBbSbuJ_zI

mgtow is its own worst enemy- https://www.campusreform.org/

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