The senators of the 5 Star Movement (M5S, antisystem), member of the ruling coalition, did not participate in the vote of confidence on Thursday on a text discussed in the Senate, at the risk of causing the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

The future of the government of Mario Draghi seems very compromised after the decision of the Movement 5 Stars (M5S, antisystem), member of the coalition in power, to boycott a vote of confidence on a text discussed Thursday in the Senate.

In accordance with the announcement made Wednesday evening by Giuseppe Conte, predecessor of Mario Draghi and current boss of the M5S, the senators of his party did not participate in the vote of confidence requested by the executive on the occasion of the vote on a decree -law containing measures of approximately 23 billion euros to help families and businesses in the face of inflation.

Mario Draghi has a majority to govern even without the 5 Stars, but the former head of the European Central Bank has repeatedly affirmed that there would be no government without them.

He had indeed arrived in business at the start of 2021 to form a coalition of “national unity” capable of overcoming the pandemic emergency and the economic crisis that ensued. However, without the support of the M5S, he considers that his government is becoming “political” and considers that he has not been mandated to lead a cabinet of this nature.

Another problem: the decree-law at the center of the political crisis also contains a measure to facilitate the construction of a garbage incinerator in Rome, which the M5S are opposed to.

“We must respond to the social malaise which is increasing in a clear and decisive way. The irresponsible are not us, they are those who do not give an answer to the country”, justified Mariolina Castellone, head of the senators of the M5S. “Today, we are not taking part in the vote on this decree-law because we do not share one of its provisions”, that concerning the incinerator in Rome, “nor the method” of its adoption, she added.

The M5S opposes incinerators which, according to them, are expensive, polluting, inefficient and do not encourage the population to sort waste. They also demand the establishment of a minimum wage and a citizen’s income.

The M5S “wants to be the center of attention”

But the movement also, if not above all, has electoralist ulterior motives, according to analysts.

“The M5S is collapsing in the polls and needs to recover visibility (…). It wants to be at the center of attention”, explained to AFP Lorenzo Codogno, former chief economist of the Italian Treasury. and visiting professor at the London School of Economics.

The M5S, winner of the last legislative elections, in 2018, with 32% of the votes and a relative majority in Parliament, has since continued to plummet in voting intentions, today at 10%-11%, and number of its elected officials have since left it.

A third of its deputies, around 50, split and followed former M5S leader, current Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who recently created his own party, Together for the Future (IPF).

The uncertainty reigning over the future of the Draghi government did not fail to cause turbulence on the markets: the Milan Stock Exchange fell by more than 3% on Thursday afternoon and the cost of debt in Italy rose again on the rise, a sign of the ambient nervousness.

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