ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte pleaded for lawmakers’ support on Tuesday as his teetering government faced a confidence vote while it struggles to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
The ruling coalition has been on the brink of collapse since former premier Matteo Renzi withdrew his Italia Viva party last week, depriving Conte of his majority in the upper chamber.
Conte, who since 2018 has headed two politically divergent governments, is desperately seeking the backing of opposition lawmakers to allow his coalition to stay in power.
“We are calling on all political forces, and also parliamentarians, who have Italy’s destiny at heart to help us restart as quickly as possible,” he told the upper chamber. The prime minister has repeatedly warned of the danger of leaving Italy rudderless in the middle of a pandemic that has claimed more than 82,000 lives and devastated the economy.
His government won a first confidence vote late on Monday in the lower house, but faces a tougher task persuading the Senate, where it lost its majority following Italia Viva’s defection.
In a twist, Renzi’s party said it would abstain, making it easier for the government to win the vote on Tuesday evening — but the crisis risks being merely delayed.
Conte was widely expected to take around 155 votes in the 321-seat chamber — saving the day, but with only enough support to keep going as a minority government. Minority governments are nothing new in Italy, which has had 29 prime ministers and 66 governments since 1946. But the task facing this one is unprecedented, with parts of the country currently under partial lockdown and a $267 billion European Union recovery package to push through parliament.
“Conte would end up commanding an extremely shaky majority that would risk collapsing at any divisive vote in the coming months,” said Wolfango Piccoli of the Teneo consultancy.
Conte’s coalition is made up of the former anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and a smaller leftist party. — AFP
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