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Italy coalition govt overshadowed by MP’s legal woes

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ROME: Efforts by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to save his coalition government threatened to be overshadowed on Friday by the legal troubles of a minority opposition politician.


Conte is hoping to woo defectors from the opposition after a slim victory in a Senate vote of confidence on Tuesday left him short of an overall majority.


Without additional support within parliament, his minority government would struggle to tackle a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 84,000 people and battered the economy.


Italy is also under pressure from Brussels to draw up credible spending plans for some 220 billion euros ($268 billion) it has been promised in EU aid.


Conte’s vulnerability could be exposed next Wednesday when parliament holds a vote on an annual justice report. Losing it could make the leader’s position increasingly untenable.


Now, the legal woes of Lorenzo Cesa, head of the small Christian democrat UDC party, could throw a new spanner in the works for embattled Conte.


Cesa was placed under formal investigation on Thursday by prosecutors targeting the powerful ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate.


While the probe would normally not warrant much wider interest, Cesa’s alleged mafia connections could make it politically toxic for Conte to curry favour with the UDC, whose three senators the government has been openly wooing.


“The Five Star Movement will never open a dialogue with people convicted or under investigation for mafia or (other) serious crimes,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Facebook.


Di Maio is a key figure in the Five Star party, the largest in parliament and the main supporter of the government along with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD). Cesa, who denies any wrongdoing, has resigned as UDC leader. Prosecutors say he is suspected of “mediation” between the ‘Ndrangheta and a regional UDC politician in a fraud involving rigged public contracts.


With the UDC out of the picture, the spotlight shifted back to ex-premier Matteo Renzi’s Italia Viva party, which sparked the political drama last week by leaving the government.


“Both the PD and Five Star want to force a U-turn from Renzi or at least some of his lawmakers,” Lorenzo Castellani, a political expert at Rome’s LUISS University, said.


Renzi left after accusing Conte of squandering incoming EU funds on handouts rather than investments. Yet both the PD and M5S have ruled out a change of prime minister to please Italia Viva.


It remained unclear how the standoff could be resolved. In a Thursday interview, Renzi said his old coalition partners had little other choice than to renegotiate with him.


“My appeal is: instead of embarking on parliamentary horse-trading, let’s go back to politics,” he told La7 television, suggesting he was still open to talks.


Renzi, the PD and M5S all have an interest in avoiding snap elections, which according to polls would hand victory to a right-wing bloc led by Matteo Salvini’s League.


— AFP


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