• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

Italy’s Populist Government Set on Collision Course with EU

Fieke Snijder by Fieke Snijder
06/03/18
in World
Giuseppe Conte is italy's new prime minister

Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is a headache for Brussels. Photo: AP

29
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Earlier this year during an electoral campaign, Italy’s populist politicians promised to halt illegal immigration, end crippling austerity measures and railed against the country’s political establishment and Brussels. These leaders are now tasked with forming the government in Italy, smashing the party system and posing a threat to the European integrity.

The president gave the new coalition, consisting of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and the far-right League, a mandate to form a government. Five days prior, the two populist parties published a coalition deal sending Brussels and the financial world into a panic.

The two young leaders, M5S’s Luigi di Maio (31) and League’s Matteo Salvini (45), received the go-ahead after the president approved their proposed prime minister, law professor Giuseppe Conte. Little is known about the 54-year-old academic, who has so far been unseen on Italy’s political front. The president still needs to approve the formation of the government.

Before the weekend the two populist parties published their 57-page joint plan, called “contract for a government of change.” The paper thumbs its nose at Brussels’ fiscal rules by calling for lower tax rates, a monthly basic income of €780 ($915) for every Italian and a rollback of the unpopular 2011 pension reform.

The bill for this extra spending is estimated to be around 100 million euros annually, yet the “contract” avoids explaining who will pocket the bill. Italy already has a public debt burden over twice as much E.U. regulations allow. The coalition’s plans increase government spending by almost six percent.

The plan demands revisions of the bloc’s Stability and Growth Pact, created to keep the euro stable by enforcing strict rules on government debts and budget deficits. It rejects E.U. austerity measures.

League’s strong anti-immigrant views are evident in the plan’s proposed crackdown on immigration: half a million undocumented migrants are set to be deported, dozens of detention centers will be opened and more E.U. support is demanded to stop North African migrant influx through Italy’s ports. Both parties expressed intent on renegotiating the Dublin Regulation, which requires migrants to be processed in their arrival E.U. state, which is often Italy or Greece.

The agreement calls for stronger ties with Moscow including the immediate lifting of the sanctions imposed on the country after the 2014 annexation of Crimea. M5S and League see Russia as a potential partner for the E.U. and NATO instead of an enemy and a military threat.

Ending political impasse

The “contract” ended the political deadlock the country of 60 million found itself in after the elections held early March. The outcome was largely perceived as a backlash against the establishment, with Matteo Renzi’s center-left Democratic Party and the center-right of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia both losing a huge amount of support.

Di Maio’s anti-establishment M5S received almost a third of the votes and became the single largest party. Salvini’s anti-immigrant League emerged as the main political force in the center-right alliance that gained the most seats, but not the majority needed to govern.

The road to forming a government coalition was complicated and laborious. M5S denied any possibility of an alliance with Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. Since that party and League have been longtime allies, cooperation between just League and M5S but without Forza Italia did not seem to be an option. For a long time, the Italians were facing a return to the ballots.

After a political stalemate of almost two months, Berlusconi caused a breakthrough by stating that Forza Italia would no longer prevent a possible government between M5S and League. Almost two weeks later the new coalition had reached agreement on both a program and a prime minister.

Problems ahead

Last Friday, 94 percent of M5S’s members gave the program a green light in an online vote. A day later League supporters approved the plans. But even with the final agreement and the supporters of both parties giving their blessings, the Southern European country’s problems are far from over.

Italy is famous for pizza, fashion, and political instability. The justice system is chronically snail-paced, often resulting in criminals wriggling out of punishment. A quick Google of “Italy bureaucracy” reveals a guide explaining how to survive the country’s stifling administration.

The state will become the E.U.’s third-biggest economy after the U.K. leaves the bloc, yet Italy’s economy continues to struggle, with the economic growth among the slowest in Europe. The nation has a mountain of national debt that reaches 130 percent of the gross domestic product, more than double the E.U. regulations. In terms of euros, Italy’s public debt is the largest in the bloc.

Unemployment rates are high, especially among the youth with one-in-three Italians between 15 and 24 years not having a job. About 20 million Italians are at risk of poverty, many blaming the introduction of the euro in 2002.

Boosting growth

The biggest economic challenge is to boost growth, according to Emanuele Bracco, Senior Lecturer at the Lancaster University. With Italy’s high level of government debt, this cannot be achieved through the public spending program as proposed by M5S and League, he told The Globe Post.

“My personal take is that making civil services like schools, universities, public service provision, civil courts, and law enforcement more efficient is of paramount importance,” Bracco said. He expects the new Italian government to implement small measures in the next few months, as a gesture of proof to voters of their ability to act.

Lorenzo Pregliasco, a professor of political science at the University of Bologna, is convinced it is impossible to follow through on the entire plan because of its high costs. “I think we will move towards a situation where M5S and League can get a couple of low-cost things done, such as pension adjustment and a tougher stance on immigration,” he told The Globe Post. All the proposed extra spending combined will lead to a budget deficit of 9 percent, three times higher than the E.U. allows. “Absolutely crazy,” the professor said.

Confrontation with Brussels

While the final version of the coalition deal renounced some of the more extreme proposals that earlier leaked drafts contained, like a referendum on Italy’s E.U. or Eurozone membership, there are still many elements that will cause Brussels a headache.

“A lot will depend on what the future Italian government concretely does and which actions it puts into effect,” Pregliasco said. The government’s bid to renegotiate E.U. agreements is not likely to find a passageway, according to the professor, because change on European level requires the consent of the other member states.

“It is unlikely they are willing to give the Italian government more space on budget and fiscal responsibility,” Pregliasco said. “Italy’s new leaders will probably use it as a rhetoric with the domestic goal of political strategy and communication rather than an effective policy proposal.”

Lecturer Bracco said that if the government agreement would be fully enacted, it may put Italy and its debt in serious trouble. “I cannot imagine a scenario in which the E.U. appeases this government, for example, on budget rules or sharing of the refugee burden.”

He expects the government to be short-lived, predicting elections could be called within a year. This would be in line with Italy’s past. Since the country transformed itself into a republic in 1946, it has rushed through 66 governments in only 72 years, neither of them living longer than just over a year on average.

M5S and League’s parliamentary victory marks the first time that one of the six founding members of the E.U. is led by anti-E.U. populists. As the bloc struggles against Brexit’s incoming blow, a quarrel between Brussels and Rome appears unavoidable.

Share29Tweet
Fieke Snijder

Fieke Snijder

Related Posts

An Iranian protester
Featured

Iran’s Nuclear Program: From Its Origins to Today’s Dispute

by Staff Writer with AFP
June 23, 2025
Protesters and police clash during the “No Kings” protest in Los Angeles, California on June 14, 2025.
Democracy at Risk

US Appeals Court Allows Trump Control of National Guard in LA

by Staff Writer with AFP
June 20, 2025
Donald Trump
Opinion

Fact vs. Fiction: The Trump Administration’s Dubious War on Reverse Discrimination

by Kevin Cokley
June 18, 2025
Iranian missiles and Israeli interceptors light up the sky over Beirut, Lebanon, on June 14, 2025. Iran launched multiple missiles toward Israeli targets, triggering interception attempts above several regional capitals, including Beirut.
Featured

Israel-Iran Conflict: Latest Developments

by Staff Writer with AFP
June 18, 2025
Tens of thousands of protestors shut down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, April 5, 2025, protesting the Trump administration's abuse of the separation of federal powers as well as the deep cuts to governmental services overseen by presidential advisor Elon Musk.
Opinion

Civil Society Is Holding the Line. Will Washington Notice?

by Mandeep S. Tiwana
June 17, 2025
An Iranian walking in front of a wall painting of the Iranian flag in Tehran
Featured

How Much Damage Has Israel Inflicted on Iran’s Nuclear Program?

by Staff Writer with AFP
June 16, 2025
Next Post
Trump

Trump: Summit with North Korea Could Still Go Ahead

Police in Indonesia on guard after a terrorist attack in Jakarta

Indonesia Passes Tougher Terror Law After Suicide Attacks

Recommended

An Iranian protester

Iran’s Nuclear Program: From Its Origins to Today’s Dispute

June 23, 2025
Protesters and police clash during the “No Kings” protest in Los Angeles, California on June 14, 2025.

US Appeals Court Allows Trump Control of National Guard in LA

June 20, 2025
Donald Trump

Fact vs. Fiction: The Trump Administration’s Dubious War on Reverse Discrimination

June 18, 2025
Iranian missiles and Israeli interceptors light up the sky over Beirut, Lebanon, on June 14, 2025. Iran launched multiple missiles toward Israeli targets, triggering interception attempts above several regional capitals, including Beirut.

Israel-Iran Conflict: Latest Developments

June 18, 2025
Tens of thousands of protestors shut down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, April 5, 2025, protesting the Trump administration's abuse of the separation of federal powers as well as the deep cuts to governmental services overseen by presidential advisor Elon Musk.

Civil Society Is Holding the Line. Will Washington Notice?

June 17, 2025
An Iranian walking in front of a wall painting of the Iranian flag in Tehran

How Much Damage Has Israel Inflicted on Iran’s Nuclear Program?

June 16, 2025

Opinion

Donald Trump

Fact vs. Fiction: The Trump Administration’s Dubious War on Reverse Discrimination

June 18, 2025
Tens of thousands of protestors shut down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, April 5, 2025, protesting the Trump administration's abuse of the separation of federal powers as well as the deep cuts to governmental services overseen by presidential advisor Elon Musk.

Civil Society Is Holding the Line. Will Washington Notice?

June 17, 2025
A Black Lives Matter mural in New York City.

Fuhgeddaboudit! America’s Erasure of History

April 2, 2025
Bust of Deputy Rubens Paiva in the Chamber of Deputies

Democratic Brazilians Are Still Here

March 18, 2025
A woman from Guatemala

Dispatch From Central America

January 28, 2025
US President Donald Trump

Dear Trump Supporters: Is This the America You Wanted?

January 28, 2025
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post