Italian prime minister resigns, blames deputy for crisis
ROME — Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte resigned Tuesday, blaming the collapse of his 14month-old populist government on his rebellious, anti-migrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who triggered a political crisis to try to force early elections.
Addressing the Senate, Conte blasted Salvini for setting in motion a “dizzying spiral of political and financial instability” by essentially pulling the plug on the government. Salvini’s right-wing League party sought a no-confidence vote against Conte earlier this month, a stunningly bold move for the government’s junior coalition partner.
Conte, a lawyer with no political experience who was tapped to break a post-election stalemate last year, handed his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella at the presidential palace Tuesday night.
Mattarella, who is head of state, requested that Conte and the rest of the government stay on in a caretaker role, while he works in the coming days to determine whether to call new elections. Mattarella will first see if another viable coalition can be cobbled together.
Salvini, who sat next to Conte during his speech, smirking at times, declared, “I’d do it all again.” He repeatedly kissed a rosary he slipped out of his pocket right after Conte rebuked him for associating “political slogans with religious symbols.”
Pressing for elections as soon as possible, Salvini said: “I don’t fear Italians’ judgment.”
In the European Parliament election three months ago in Italy, as well as in current opinion polls, Salvini’s League party has become the No. 1 political force among Italians. His crackdown on migrants, whom the party’s voter base largely blames for crime, appears to be a huge factor in Salvini’s climbing popularity.
Early elections would pull the plug on Parliament about 3½ years ahead of schedule, perhaps as soon as late October. That would mean political campaigning in the middle of delicate budget maneuvers that will be closely monitored by the European Union. The EU is concerned about Italy’s shaky finances and long stagnant economy, and it expects billions of euros in budget slashing that lawmakers running for office might be loath to make.
Should any early elections sweep Salvini into power, financial markets could be rattled by his Euro-skepticism.
Despite the acrimony, Conte defended the government’s support for Salvini’s migrant crackdown, including stiffening fines to as much as 1 million euros — $1.1 million — for captains of humanitarian rescue boats who dock without permission and allow migrants ashore, as well as the seizure of such boats.
“I don’t take back anything of what we did, that’s not my habit,” Conte said.
Hundreds of miles south, some 15 migrants of the more than 100 kept aboard a Spanish rescue ship for nearly three weeks plunged into the sea near an Italian island to try to swim ashore. Salvini has refused to allow the vessel to dock, and conditions have been deteriorating on board.
Sicilian Prosecutor Luigi Patronaggio ordered the seizure of the Open Arms and the evacuation of more than 80 migrants aboard after meeting with port authorities as part of an investigation into possible kidnapping charges against Salvini for refusing to open the ports, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.