Towards a New Government: Is a Grand Coalition Possible?
On March 23, the first round of voting within the Italian Parliament for the election of the heads of both chambers started (for more details, see previous article). The next day, as a result of non- stop negotiations among the members of the two major parliamentary groups, the 5-Star-Movement and the right-wing coalition, the third round of voting turned the tide: Five-Star-Movement’s Roberto Fico was elected head of the Chamber of Deputies with 422 votes out of 620, while Forza Italia’s Maria Elisabetta Casellati was chosen as head of the Senate with 240 votes out of 319. On the same day, March 24, current Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni resigned, although he will still be in charge until a new government is formed. He had been appointed by the President of Republic Sergio Mattarella on December 12, 2016 when former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned after reforms to Italy’s Constitution and the Italian Parliament, which he had endorsed, had been rejected by 59.1% of Italians via a referendum.
Forty-four year old Roberto Fico is a veteran of the Five-Star-Movement. In 2005 in Naples, his hometown, he founded one of the first meet-ups, or social networks organized by the Movement to coordinate local meetings and mobilise citizens across Italy. Having previously been a member of left-wing parties, he has always overtly opposed any partnership between the Movement and right-wing parties (especially regarding migration policy and willingness to make compromises in order to join coalitions). During his thank you speech, Fico pledged that his priority as head of the lower house would be reducing politicians’ benefits and cutting the cost of government. Significantly, the fact that he took a public bus to reach parliament on Monday, his first day as head of the Chamber of Deputies, was headline news. While being praised by many, his choice and, in particular the fact that he reposted a picture of himself sitting in the bus on his Instagram profile, also drew some criticism from public opinion and political opponents, who dismissed it as propaganda and accused Fico of having otherwise mostly used taxis so far.
Seventy-two-year-old lawyer Elisabetta Casellati joined Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia back in 1994. She was Under-Secretary of Health between 2004 and 2006 and Under-Secretary of Justice from 2008 to 2011. As the first woman appointed as head of the upper house, Elisabetta Casellati defined this as “an honour and a responsibility to be shared with all those women who, with their stories, action, efforts and bravery, have built today’s Italy, a big democratic and liberal country where no achievement is prevented anymore”.
Roberto Fico sitting in the bus on his first day as Head of the Chamber of Deputies, source ANSA
Consultations, overseen by Italian President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and involving the heads of both chambers, the leaders of parties/coalitions represented in the Parliament, and former Presidents of the Republic, are ongoing, with the aim to appoint the next Prime Minister. He/She will be in charge of forming a new government, i.e. appointing all Ministers which will then need to be approved by the majority of the parliament. So far, the Five-Star-Movement and the right-wing coalition, which won most of the seats in the general election and, therefore have more leverage during the negotiations, have been making it hard to make progress. Citing that it received a large majority of votes (more than 32% vs. almost 18% for the second-place party, the League, which is part of the right-wing coalition), the Five-Star-Movement is not open to any other potential candidate for Prime Minister other than Luigi Di Maio, leader of the party. It proposes that the League run the “main” Ministries (Home Office, Economics, Economic Development), using Germany’s Grand Coalition as a model. On the other side, the League strongly criticizes the Five-Star-Movement’s stance, threatening to reject any agreement in case the party Forza Italia (which ran in the elections in the right-wing coalition as well) is not included in the new government at all and even opens up the possibility of a third candidate being considered in case no agreement can be reached.
Considering the current stalemate, the chance to reach a grand coalition deal and eventually form a stable government is slight.
