Italian former prime minister Matteo Renzi forms new party in blow to week-old coalition
Italy’s newly-formed coalition has been critically undermined barely a week after its creation after Matteo Renzi, a former prime minister, announced he was breaking away from the centre-Left Democratic Party to set up a new grouping.
Mr Renzi had pushed hard for the creation of the current government, a shaky alliance between his party and the Five Star Movement, but has now abandoned it just days after it was sworn into office.
"I have decided to leave the party and to build together with others a new house to do politics differently," the former premier and mayor of Florence wrote on Facebook, barely a week after the new government won a confidence vote in parliament.
Mr Renzi became, at the age of 39, Italy’s youngest prime minister when he was elected in 2014, bringing high hopes of a fresh approach and a raft of reforms.
But he had to resign in 2016 when he lost a referendum on constitutional reform.
He vowed to combat the populism espoused by Matteo Salvini, the leader of the hard-Right League, which has around 35 per cent of the vote despite no longer being in power.
"I want to spend the coming months fighting against Salvini," he said. "The bad populism he represents has not been defeated".
But a senior figure on the Left warned that divisions within Italian governments in the early 1920s paved the way for the rise of Benito Mussolini, the Fascist dictator who dragged the country into disastrous colonial adventures, imprisoned political opponents, persecuted Italian Jews and sided with Hitler in the Second World War.
Dario Franceschini, the culture minister in the newly-formed coalition, said Mr Renzi’s departure was a highly risky strategy that could lead to the collapse of the coalition and the return of Mr Salvini.
The League leader pulled the plug on his alliance with Five Star last month, in a vain attempt to trigger a general election in which he could have emerged as prime minister.
“In 1921-22, Fascism was growing more and more on the back of anger and fear,” said Mr Franceschini.
“Socialists and liberals had a majority in parliament…but arguments and divisions within the parties left them weak, allowing Mussolini to triumph in October 1922. History should teach us not to repeat the errors of the past.”
Mr Renzi, who will take with him around 30 MPs, said he will continue to support the coalition.
He claims his new movement will in fact strengthen the centre-Left. But analysts suspect he will withdraw his support at some point in the future in order to mount a bid for power.
The schism weakens the position of Nicola Zingaretti, the beleaguered head of the Democratic Party. He said that Mr Renzi's split was "a mistake".
With Mr Renzi taking with him 30 MPs and senators, it will be “near impossible” for the coalition to control a majority in both houses of parliament, said Wolfgango Piccoli, of the political risk consultancy Teneo.
“Renzi’s past record of political double-dealing casts a large shadow on his claim that his new party will strengthen the government.
“Just as Renzi ruthlessly ousted Enrico Letta as prime minister in 2014, he will likely withdraw the support to the M5S-PD government whenever it suits him.”
Francesco Galietti, the founder of Policy Sonar, a Rome-based consultancy, said: "Renzi wants to be back in the game. He's not content to be in the background - he needs to be sole shareholder and CEO (of any political party). His personality is larger than life."
