By Silvia Marchetti
ROME (MaceNews) – Italy’s premier Mario Draghi faces a risky Senate vote this week as his ally, the 5 Stars Movement, threatens to withdraw government support over key economic measures, according to ruling coalition sources.
As tensions between Draghi and the former premier, 5 Stars party leader Giuseppe Conte, are mounting, 5 Stars senators are considering walking out of the chamber and not taking part in the final vote on more financial aid to Italian families and firms hit by fallout from the Ukraine war.
On Monday, 5 Stars deputies withheld backing for the same decree at the lower house, which will now pass for approval to the Senate where a vote of confidence has been placed on the bill in order to bind the 5 Stars and test their support to Draghi, said a Democratic source.
“As opposed to the lower house, which was a simple vote, the political implications of ditching the Senate hall over a vote of confidence are huge, and would inevitably trigger the start of a political issue, bringing to light once and for all that within the majority the 5 Stars no longer want to support Draghi,” said the Democrat source.
A 5 Stars official argued that the party had submitted to Draghi a list of economic priorities to be speedily approved, including a minimum wage and more labor costs cuts for firms, and was waiting for feedback.
“These upcoming hours will be crucial, the premier must show us some sign of opening-up to our requests, or we will be forced to abandon the Senate hall and not vote his own ‘Ukraine’ measures”, said the 5 Stars official.
Even though the ruling coalition has a thinner majority at the Senate than at the lower house, were the 5 Stars to leave the chamber the government could still survive the vote of confidence but it would be the start of a risky showdown for Draghi’s leadership, as the next general vote looms in 2023.
5 Stars leader Conte, critical of Draghi ever since the former ECB chief replaced him at the helm of a national unity cabinet, has been threatening lately to remove support to the ruling coalition if there will not be ‘a change in the decision-making process’, which according to one 5 Stars member has been solely in the hands of Draghi and his team.
The 5 Stars recently lost some 90 deputies who ditched the party to follow pro-Draghi foreign minister Luigi Di Maio, once a hard-core populist and now ‘converted’ to the established. Were the movement not to vote the Senate decree, more pro-government senators could decide to abandon Conte and join Di Maio’s ranks, further weakening the 5 Stars.
A former 5 stars member said the movement has lost its path and was facing a stalemate.
“They need to desperately mark some kind of distance from the government, hence the threats, to recover the electoral support they lost because they are part of the ruling coalition, but they’re also scared of ditching the cabinet over fears of an uncertain fate.”
The Senate Ukraine-impact aid decree debate kicks off on Tuesday, with the vote of confidence expected to follow at the latest on Thursday.