ROME: Italy’s president named a former IMF economist 64-year-old Carlo Cottarelli as caretaker prime minister to lead the country into new elections, possibly as soon as the autumn, after a political storm whipped up by the collapse of a populist bid for government.
The eurozone’s third-largest economy lurched into a fresh crisis on Sunday when President Sergio Mattarella vetoed the nomination of fierce eurosceptic Paolo Savona as economy minister in a planned coalition of the far-right League party and anti-establishment Five Star Movement.
The parties’ approved nominee for prime minister, lawyer and political novice Giuseppe Conte, stepped aside following the decision to reject Savona, crashing the proposed government after nearly three months of convoluted horse-trading.
The subsequent nomination of Carlo Cottarelli as caretaker prime minister sparked angry calls for Mattarella’s impeachment as Savona had the backing of the majority of lawmakers.
League leader Matteo Salvini, a fellow eurosceptic who was Savona’s biggest advocate, said the anti-establishment government failed because the “powers-that-be, the markets, Berlin and Paris” had decided against “some of our ministers”.
Five Star chief Luigi Di Maio called on party supporters to attend a rally in Rome on June 2, the anniversary of Italy’s transformation into a republic, after what he called “Italian democracy’s darkest night”.
The chaos – the latest chapter in a drawn-out political saga after an inconclusive March election – sent Italian stocks tumbling by over two percent, and bond yields surging, with Italy’s debt risk premium hitting its highest level since November 2013.
Cottarelli was director of the IMF’s fiscal affairs department from 2008 to 2013 and became known as Mr Scissors for making cuts to public spending in Italy. He said that should his technocrat government win parliamentary approval, it would stay in place until elections at the start of 2019. But if parliament fails to approve his government, a new election would be held “after August” – the most likely outcome given only the centre-left Democratic party has announced that it would vote in favour.
French President Emmanuel Macron praised his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella today, saying he was fulfilling his role as the guarantor of the country’s institutions with “courage and responsibility.” “I reiterate my friendship and support for President Mattarella who has an essential task to undertake, (ensuring) the institutional and democratic stability of his country, which he is doing with a lot of courage and responsibility,” Macron said.
The Italian leader rejected a eurosceptic nominee for the economy minister on Sunday which led to the collapse of a government put forward by a populist alliance comprising the far-right League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement. Despite facing calls for impeachment, Mattarella named a caretaker prime minister on Monday, Carlo Cottarelli, putting the country on course for new elections.
Macron, a pro-Europe centrist, is watching Italy’s unfolding political crisis closely, aware that his plans for deepening the European Union depend largely on a stable and like-minded government emerging in Rome. “Italy is an important partner for France at every level: a historic partner, a present partner and a future partner.”
