ROME: Italy was stuck in political limbo on Wednesday, awaiting a decision on a caretaker government amid talk of snap elections and the rumoured return of a far-right coalition that collapsed at the weekend.
Talks between President Sergio Mattarella and Carlo Cottarelli, his technocrat pick for prime minister, have dragged on, and the political turmoil has raised concerns about the stability of the euro zone.
And even if the former IMF economist known as “Mr Scissors” does manage to piece together a government, it will struggle to win approval in parliament.
Cottarelli on Sunday pledged to deliver a list of ministers “as soon as possible” but by Wednesday, had still not unveiled his team, prompting speculation Mattarella was mulling fresh talks with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and nationalist League.
Their coalition government fell apart at the weekend after Mattarella rejected their proposed eurosceptic economy minister, Paolo Savona.
Fuelling the rumours was a report by news agency AGI which quoted Cottarelli as saying he was “awaiting further developments” due to the new possibility of a “political government” being formed.
Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio said the only solution was to approve the original lineup put together by the two parties and headed by their little-known PM pick Giuseppe Conte who renounced his mandate at the weekend.
But the League has so far refused to countenance a cabinet without Savona managing the euro zone’s third-largest economy.
Other than that, the only option was “immediate elections”, he said.
Mattarella’s veto of Savona and subsequent nomination of Cottarelli as caretaker prime minister angered lawmakers, most of whom had been ready to back the eurosceptic as economy minister.
If Cottarelli does manage to pull together a caretaker government, most are preparing to abstain — which would hand him just a few dozen “yes” votes.
Italian media reports said the parliamentary factions were trying to reach agreement over how long Cottarelli’s mandate should last before new elections are held, with officials from the centre-left Democratic Party calling for the country to the polls as early as July.
That could only happen if the parliament was dissolved before Friday.
A more likely scenario is Cottarelli holding on until autumn, with new elections likely in early October.
At a Naples rally on Tuesday evening, Di Maio appeared to revive the idea of a coalition government with the League.
“There is a majority in parliament. Let this government begin. We are fed up with second-rate governments,” he said.
But League leader Matteo Salvini didn’t seem to be interested. “I spent weeks in Rome trying to form a government. It was a futile effort,” he retorted while campaigning in Pisa.
Instead, he said he would be ready for new elections “as soon as possible,” while rejecting the idea of holding them in July.
Salvini’s anti-euro, anti-immigrant party has risen in opinion polls in recent days.
Central to the party’s agenda is reform of the EU, spooking markets worldwide and caused a flurry of reaction in Brussels.
On Tuesday, European Budget Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said he hoped Italy’s poor economic situation would keep populist parties out of government.
“I can only hope that this will play a role in the election campaign... sending a signal to voters not to hand power to populists on the right and left,” he told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
His comments caused uproar in Italy, prompting European officials to scramble to calm anger at the perceived meddling by Brussels. — AFP
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