The Italian interior minister and leader of the right-wing governing party Lega, Matteo Salvini, puts off in the government crisis: Together with the ministers of his Lega, he wants to resign to force Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to resign. „We do not stick to the ministerial chairs,“ Salvini commented after meeting his parliamentarians last night in Rome.
The Lega chief and vice premier is working on a revival of the center-right alliance with the right-conservative Forza Italia to the four-time head of government Silvio Berlusconi. Today Salvini is planning a meeting with Berlusconi in Rome, where the two politicians want to discuss the developments in the crisis.
Opposition wants transitional government
Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Party (Partito Democratico / PD) discusses the proposal of ex-Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to form an interim government. This should be joined by the PD, the five-star movement and all those parties who want to spare Italy new elections in October. The aim was to avoid an election campaign in precisely those months when Italy needed a functioning parliament to pass the new budget law.
PD chief Nicola Zingaretti, however, excludes an alliance with the five-star movement and wants to save the unity of the largest opposition party. „It would be a huge mistake to split us now, because that would clear the way for a right-wing election victory,“ warned Zingaretti.
He underlined that President Sergio Mattarella has the last word on new elections.
