Italian PM Desperately Tries to Save Coalition

Sophie Venton-Puet,

Correspondent (Politics)

 

ROME – Italy has plunged into a fresh political crisis after relations between Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and conservative leader PM Silvio Berlusconi continue to deteriorate. In an attempt to rescue his government from collapse, Letta has launched a last-ditch effort after Berlusconi pulled his five ministers out of the five-month-old coalition on Saturday.

Tensions within the coalition have risen sharply since Berlusconi was convicted of tax-fraud charges in August this year. Because of the conviction, which included a can on holding office for Berlusconi, Italy’s Senate was due to vote this month to strip him of his seat — a prospect that triggered open conflict within the government.

The Prime Minister faces a tough battle in winning a confidence vote on Wednesday in midst of the volatile political crisis. Berlusconi demanded a new vote even as more dovish members of his party suggested they might break with the three-time Italian premier. While Letta’s Democratic Party has a clear majority in Italy’s lower house, it lacks one in the Senate, where he has relied on Berlusconi’s support.

In a television interview on Sunday Letta said that he will resign if he does not win the vote, adding: “I don’t intend to govern at all costs”. Letta’s uneasy coalition was forged by Napolitano after a two-month deadlock between the Prime Minister’s centre-left Democratic Party, which won the vote by a razor thin margin and its eternal rival, Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party.

If Letta loses Wednesday’s vote, Napolitano, who has strongly opposed calling new elections, has indicated he would try to piece together Italy’s fourth government in two years, either headed by Letta or another figure. But that attempt is likely to take weeks.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons (Niccolò Caranti)