Anno IX - Numero 10
Non è sufficiente parlare di pace. Bisogna crederci.
Eleanor Roosevelt

giovedì 8 marzo 2018

Italy’s Surging Populists Run Into a Political Muddle. But for How Long?

Mr. Renzi, announcing his resignation as the head of the governing Democratic Party, said he would leave once a new government had been put in place. In the meantime, he said, he would not allow his party to join a government of anti-European extremists and be a “crutch to a government of anti-establishment forces” who, he said, stood for closed societies, fake news, a culture of fear, intolerance and hate speech. He said the Democratic Party would move to the opposition. The muddle strikes back

di Jason Horowitz


Another European election, another scene of political carnage. The stunning showing by the Five Star Movement and other populist parties in Italy’s election on Sunday shattered the establishment and suggested that the country was at the cusp of a political revolution.

Except Italy is Italy. A complicated law passed last year — and aimed at Five Star — made it difficult for any single party to win the election. Now, in typical Italian fashion, there is a muddle: No party, or coalition, has won enough support in parliament to form a government, thrusting the country into protracted negotiations over who will govern.


Which is to say, things were going according to plan.

On a continent that has been torn apart more than once by cataclysmic wars, many countries have built in safeguards against political extremes. But the question for Italy — and all of Europe — is how much longer these protections will hold.

Germany has a highly decentralized, consensus-based system. France has a two-step election that allows its citizens first to vote their hearts, and then their heads.

And Italy has its mess.

In an era of increasingly autocratic leaders — with anti-Democratic forces sweeping up furious voters across Europe — some politicians have whispered privately that although the results of the election may be disastrous for the country’s efforts at modernization, they may be preferable for European leaders and investors afraid of a populist government.

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