Italian parties eyeing PM prize

COUNTRY LEFT IN LIMBO

Afight over whether to hold early elections gripped Italy on Tuesday after Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s resignation left the eurozone’s third largest economy in political limbo.

Renzi’s exit on Monday after a crushing referendum defeat over constitutional reforms unleashed the political hounds, with all parties vying to take advantage of the power vacuum.

“Italy is now entering troubled waters,” Giovanni Orsina, political science professor at the Luiss University in Rome, said.

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday called Renzi from Air Force One, thanking Renzi “for the close friendship and partnership the leaders enjoyed” during his tenure as prime minister, the White House said.

“The president emphasised that Italy will remain one of the United States’ closest and strongest allies and an indispensable partner,” it said in a statement.

Across the political spectrum, meanwhile, parties were plotting the next move in a high-stakes game with the country’s top job as prize.

Renzi, 41, has been asked by the president to stay on for a few days to pass the 2017 budget in a bid to reassure Europe and the markets that the heavily debt-laden country is not the eurozone’s next nightmare.

The government has already won a vote of confidence on the budget in the lower house of parliament, but needs the senate’s nod.

The leaders of the senate’s parliamentary groups decided to start discussions yesterday in order to proceed with the confidence vote.

After that, President Sergio Mattarella will consult with party leaders before naming a new prime minister, though whoever it is will have to have the backing of Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD).

The crisis could see the 2018 elections brought forward by a year and potentially see the populist Five Star movement – which wants to quit the euro – seize power.

Italy’s mainstream parties on the left and right share a common interest in keeping the Five Stars out, but disagree on how to do it.

The Five Stars said the Italians had “expressed a clear political signal” that they want elections as soon as possible, and founder Beppe Grillo said the party would begin forming a policy platform and a Cabinet team next week.

Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan is widely tipped for the PM post.

Whoever is chosen will become the fourth successive head of government to be appointed rather than elected. – AFP