Populists seek power as Italy PM quits
Political chaos looms in Rome
ITALY tumbled into political uncertainty yesterday as Prime Minister Matteo Renzi prepared to submit his resignation as the latest European leader swept away by forces challenging the established political order.
The referendum rejection of his signature constitutional reform plan meant to strengthen Renzi’s hand and defuse rising establishment-bashing movements across the West had the opposite outcome.
The result emboldened anti-immigrant, anti-euro populists on the left and right who have steadily built power as an alternative to Italy’s old guard political leadership.
But in a sign of the many barriers to their momentum, European markets were down only slightly yesterday and many centrist politicians were also celebrating Renzi being ousted.
The youthful, Coke-guzzling prime minister had portrayed himself as a lone warrior against euroscepticism that fuelled Britain’s break with the EU in June and giving tailwinds to right-wing political leaders in France and elsewhere.
But Renzi also alienated Italian voters over two-and-a-half years in office by failing to jump-start growth in Europe’s fourth-biggest economy.
The final result a definitive 59 percent of voters against the reforms
reflected personal enmity for Renzi as much as a true wave of populism washing over the Italian electorate.
“A lesson for everyone: you can’t always lie to the people without suffering the consequences,” said Beppe Grillo, the caustic comedian who founded the Five Star movement, an eclectic anti-euro party that has emerged as the main challenger to Italy’s establishment parties. Grillo called for new elections as soon as possible, a move that would benefit him.
Under current laws his movement would stand a good chance of capturing office.But the choice of when to hold elections is not his.
A more likely scenario could be a caretaker government headed by a different leader from Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party.
Elections, however, must be held by early 2018. The decision about Renzi’s successor as prime minister falls to Italian President Sergio Mattarella, an establishment stalwart who is unlikely to clear an easy path for the Five Star backers.
The Five Star movement has promised to hold a referendum on Italy’s membership in the euro zone if ever it captures office. That move could pressure Italy’s shaky banking sector and rekindle the euro crisis.
But it appears so unlikely for now that stocks of Italian banks were holding steady yesterday morning after an initial drop when markets opened. Shares in Italy’s most troubled bank, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, were up slightly after recovering from an overnight plunge.
European leaders yesterday said they were confident that Italian politicians would overcome the turbulence without setting off a broader crisis on the troubled continent which has faced a string of crises over recent years including Greece’s fiscal collapse and an unprecedented surge of migrants and refugees.
“This is a strong country with a strong government and I have every confidence in Italy to deal with the situation,” the senior EU official in charge of economics, Pierre Moscovici, said.
Despite the overall calm following the result, the Five Star movement is still surging against its competitors.
In head-to-head polling against the ruling Democratic Party, it is the favourite with a 53-to-47 percent advantage, according to a survey from the EMG polling group released on Sunday.
“I don’t think that we can continue in a system where public issues are criticised for years and then cha nges do not happen,” Renzi said early yesterday as he conceded defeat, blinking back tears.
“I believe in democracy, and when you lose, you cannot pretend that nothing has happened and go to bed.”