+ A
A -
dpa
Rome
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the end of his 14-month government on Tuesday, in a dramatic falling-out with deputy premier and far-right leader Matteo Salvini.
“The ongoing crisis inevitably undermines the action of the government, which ends here,” Conte said in a highly-anticipated Senate speech held in front of an intermittently rowdy audience.
“At the end of the debate I will go to the President of the Republic to officially communicate the end of this government and present to my resignation to him,” he added.
Salvini said two weeks ago he wanted to end a dysfunctional coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S). He later back-pedalled, but the M5S said it was too late to patch things up.
Before Tuesday’s showdown, the M5S and Salvini’s League party squabbled for months on a range of key policy issues, including tax, immigration and transport.
The M5S is now expected to try to form an alternative government with the opposition Democratic Party (PD). If this fails, Italy likely faces early elections in October-November or early 2020.
Mattarella is expected to hold consultations with party leaders to see if an alternative government can be formed or if early elections are the only way out of the crisis. Conte, who was chosen as a neutral figure between the League and M5S, used much of his speech to accuse Salvini of sabotaging the government and acting selfishly.
The League leader has been “irresponsible” and is exposing the country to the risk of a “spiral of political uncertainty and financial instability.” Conte reproached Salvini, who has been known to hail the Virgin Mary and kiss rosaries during rallies, for “mixing political slogans with religious symbols.” In response to the premier’s address, Salvini theatrically left the bench reserved for government members and joined League senators in the assembly.
“Thanks and finally! I would do all that I have done again,” he said.
“I am sorry that you had to endure me for a year,” he told Conte, referring to his speech as a “sequence of insults.” PD leader Nicola Zingaretti accused Conte of glossing over his own failures, saying that if the premier had so many things to reproach Salvini for, “why did he wait [until Tuesday] to denounce them?”
Rome
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the end of his 14-month government on Tuesday, in a dramatic falling-out with deputy premier and far-right leader Matteo Salvini.
“The ongoing crisis inevitably undermines the action of the government, which ends here,” Conte said in a highly-anticipated Senate speech held in front of an intermittently rowdy audience.
“At the end of the debate I will go to the President of the Republic to officially communicate the end of this government and present to my resignation to him,” he added.
Salvini said two weeks ago he wanted to end a dysfunctional coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S). He later back-pedalled, but the M5S said it was too late to patch things up.
Before Tuesday’s showdown, the M5S and Salvini’s League party squabbled for months on a range of key policy issues, including tax, immigration and transport.
The M5S is now expected to try to form an alternative government with the opposition Democratic Party (PD). If this fails, Italy likely faces early elections in October-November or early 2020.
Mattarella is expected to hold consultations with party leaders to see if an alternative government can be formed or if early elections are the only way out of the crisis. Conte, who was chosen as a neutral figure between the League and M5S, used much of his speech to accuse Salvini of sabotaging the government and acting selfishly.
The League leader has been “irresponsible” and is exposing the country to the risk of a “spiral of political uncertainty and financial instability.” Conte reproached Salvini, who has been known to hail the Virgin Mary and kiss rosaries during rallies, for “mixing political slogans with religious symbols.” In response to the premier’s address, Salvini theatrically left the bench reserved for government members and joined League senators in the assembly.
“Thanks and finally! I would do all that I have done again,” he said.
“I am sorry that you had to endure me for a year,” he told Conte, referring to his speech as a “sequence of insults.” PD leader Nicola Zingaretti accused Conte of glossing over his own failures, saying that if the premier had so many things to reproach Salvini for, “why did he wait [until Tuesday] to denounce them?”
