In 2018, Italy elected the most openly anti-EU parliament in the country’s history. A coalition between two rabble-rousing populist parties threatened to lay siege to Italy’s institutions and disregard Brussels’ fiscal rules. Financial markets trembled and Italy’s European allies looked on with concern.
Three years on, however, the formation of a new government of national unity led by Mario Draghi has upended Italian politics. While the composition of the 2018 parliament remains the same, the country’s once determinedly Eurosceptic parties are now barely recognisable.
A little over a month after Draghi, a former president of the European Central Bank, was sworn in as prime minister, the League party of Matteo Salvini has jettisoned its Euroscepticism.
Meanwhile Five Star, a previously anti-euro grouping that enraged French president Emmanuel Macron in 2019 when a senior party figure met a group of gilets jaunes activists near Paris, has chosen the centrist former prime minister Giuseppe Conte as its leader in waiting.
And the centre-left Democratic party (PD), always staunchly pro-European, has selected another former premier, Enrico Letta, as its leader. His return from exile working as an academic in Paris represents a decision by the PD to choose experience and reliability rather than pivot towards a more radical programme and younger, fresher leadership.
This embrace of the old guard could see Italy’s next election, scheduled for 2023, fought between four former prime ministers: Letta, Conte, Forza Italia’s Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Renzi of Italia Viva.
Salvini is a former interior minister, leaving just Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing Brothers of Italy as the only major party with a leader who has not held one of the highest offices of state.
Roberta Pinotti, a PD senator and former Italian defence minister, believes that Draghi’s entrance has created an opening for formerly anti-establishment parties to reconsider their previous positions.
“A space has been created for some political forces to rethink themselves in terms of ideas both to reposition themselves and work efficiently in parliament,” she said. “I think there can be a maturing of all the political forces”.
Five Star, according to insiders, is breaking decisively with its earlier radicalism, and is likely to re-emerge as something resembling a mainstream European green party with a focus on Italy’s poorer south.
“The Movement is in a two-week radio silence, no one is allowed to speak,” said one Five Star MP. “It is a clear sign that we are waiting for the stars to realign in Italian politics before deciding on a course of action.”
“There is movement in the other parties, especially in the PD, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that things are changing on the political spectrum.”
For some, the apparently sudden realignment of Italian politics is a reflection of changes elsewhere. The defeat of Donald Trump in November’s US election left some on the Italian right asking if there was a long-term future in the bombastic Trumpian social media rants that fuelled Salvini’s rise four years ago.
“We have seen that extremism leads nowhere if you want to build something,” said Elena Pavan, a League mayor in the Veneto region.
“Politics is looking for answers to concrete problems like never before, and I believe that all parties have chosen a sense of responsibility in entrusting themselves to Draghi,” she added.
Alessandro Zan, a PD MP, also credits the departure of Trump from the international stage, as well as the impact of the Covid-19 crisis, with forcing all parties to reappraise their stance towards the EU.
One of the Draghi government’s main tasks will be to spend in effect more than €200bn from Brussels’ post-pandemic recovery fund, an initiative that has won over even hardened Eurosceptics in Italy.
“The great shock caused by the pandemic gave rise to a very strong European collegiality that until a few years ago was not seen, or did not exist at all,” Zan said.
But while peace has broken out for now, there are already signs that hostilities will be resumed the closer the country comes to elections.
In Letta’s first comments on being appointed PD leader on Sunday, he raised the prospect of reforming Italy’s citizenship rules, earning a swift response from Salvini.
“If he talks about it, it means that he wants to bring down this government,” Salvini said. “Only someone who comes from Paris, or Mars . . . is concerned with giving citizenship to immigrants.”
For the time being, however, the normally fractious world of Italian politics is experiencing an uneasy ceasefire.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
