Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte Resigns Amid Covid-19 and Economic Recession Struggles

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is set to resign on Tuesday, according to a government spokesman, heightening political instability that could lead to snap elections in a country struggling to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and revive its economy.

Giuseppe Conte

Conte stepped down after losing his governing majority in Italy’s Senate earlier this month, following a fight with a small coalition ally over how to spend massive funds offered by the European Union to help Italy recover from the impact of the pandemic. His resignation has triggered a search for a new governing majority, but if none can be found, then the EU’s third-biggest economy is likely to hold elections in coming months.

The breakdown of Italy’s left-leaning government shows that Europe’s political challenges of recent years – including the fragmentation of the political landscape and the rise of antiestablishment parties – haven’t gone away, despite the pressure that the pandemic is putting on European politicians to work together across party lines.

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Mr. Conte presided over an awkward coalition, led by the establishment, center-left Democratic Party and the insurgent populist 5 Star Movement, an alliance aimed mainly at avoiding elections that opinion polls suggest would be won by the nationalist League party. Few people in Italy expected the government to last long, although the pandemic for a while boosted Mr. Conte’s authority.

In the end it was a small, centrist faction, led by former Premier Matteo Renzi, that withdrew support for Mr. Conte, citing unhappiness with his lack of consultation over how to spend the more than €200 billion in EU economic-recovery funds earmarked for Italy.

Mr. Conte, a popular law professor with no party affiliation, couldn’t find enough new supporters in the Senate, the upper house of Italy’s Parliament, to replace Mr. Renzi’s party.

Possible outcomes include a new coalition government, which could be led by Mr. Conte once again or by a new premier. Some leaders of Italy’s right-of-center parties have called for a bipartisan government to steer the country out of its economic and health crisis. But if no government can be formed, elections are likely this spring, two years ahead of schedule.

Elections could pose major public-health challenges amid the pandemic, and would also delay further Italy’s efforts to come up with a plan for reviving its battered economy with EU help.

Italy’s head of state, President Sergio Mattarella, is expected to consult the parties in Parliament in coming days to test whether a new governing majority can be found.

Few Italians had heard of Mr. Conte when he was appointed premier in 2018, at first leading a coalition between the 5 Star Movement and the League. When the League’s leader, anti-immigration firebrand Matteo Salvini, pulled out of the government in 2019 and sought to force elections, Mr. Conte instead deftly brokered a new alliance between the 5 Star and the Democrats, showing unexpected survival skills and leaving a frustrated Mr. Salvini in opposition.

When Italy became the first Western country hit hard by the coronavirus in early 2020, the government after initial hesitation imposed the world’s first lockdown of an entire nation. Mr. Conte became a reassuring presence on television as he explained the drastic anti-contagion measures to Italians, and his approval ratings rose. But although the lockdown largely suppressed the virus by summer, infections rebounded in the fall, and renewed restrictions on everyday life have led to widespread public frustration as well as fears for Italy’s fragile economy.

The EU’s generous offer of grants and cheap loans to support recovery is seen in Italy as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revitalize the Italian economy, which has struggled with chronically low growth rates for the past quarter-century. Mr. Renzi, whose own centrist party is languishing in opinion polls, questioned whether Mr. Conte has the vision to use the EU funds well.Photo Credit: Getty

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