League leader Matteo Salvini was
"irresponsible and opportunist" and showed a "grave lack of
constitutional culture" in triggering a government crisis solely
to cash in on surging poll numbers, Premier Giuseppe Conte said
Tuesday, saying the government's action stops here" and saying
he would go to President Sergio Mattarella to tender his
resignation as premier.
Salvini was undeterred, saying "I would do it all again".
The timing of the crisis, Conte went on, showed "political
opportunism" and Salvini had made a "gesture of institutional
imprudence".
The League's "drumming" about new elections was "offensive
for the activity of the government," he added.
He said Salvini had sought "a pretext for the crisis" in the
5-Star Movement's opposition to a French rail link after the
League scored highly in the recent European elections.
He said Salvini was "concerning" in his conception of
managing power by "rabble-rousing" people in the streets.
Conte also said Italy's Constitution precluded "authoritarian
methods", referring to Salvini's controversial call for the
people to grant him "full powers" in a snap vote.
He said not even the "illuminated sovereign" Emperor
Frederick II had demanded as much, saying even the highest
king's powers were limited by the law.
In Europe, he said, Salvini's "contrarian" views had sparked
"confusion".
He said Salvini did not have a "sense of the rules" and said
he should have addressed parliament on a case of the League
allegedly seeking Russian funding.
Conte also criticised Salvini for brandishing rosaries and
other religious symbols while announcing policy moves such as a
crackdown on migrants.
"Your use of religious symbols is unconscionable", he said.
Conte said "the ongoing (government) crisis compromises the
action of this government, which stops here".
He said he would hand in his resignation to Mattarella, who
would "guide the country in a delicate passage".
In other remarks, Conte said the government crisis makes
Italy weak in negotiations with the EU over new commissioners
and other issues.
He also said an emergency management of the budget is "very
likely" given the timing of the crisis.
Conte added that a new government will find it
hard to avert a 23-billion-euro VAT hike.
It would also be subject to leaps in the bond spread, he
said.
Conte said "every party is called to work a mediation between
partial interests and general ones, when you concentrate only on
partial interests you not only betray the nobility of politics
but you compromise the national interest," in another attack on
Salvini.
Salvini showed a "grave lack of constitutional culture" in
triggering the government crisis, Conte said.
The timing of the crisis, he went on, showed "political
opportunism" and Salvini made a "gesture of institutional
imprudence".
The League's "drumming" about new elections was "offensive
for the activity of the government," he added.
He said Salvini had sought "a pretext for the crisis" in the
5-Star Movement's longstanding opposition to a French rail link
after the League scored highly in the recent European elections.
He said Salvini was "concerning" in his conception of
managing power by "rabble-rousing" people in the streets.
Salvini told the Senate in reply that he was unrepentant.
"I would do it all again. am here with the great force of
being a free man, which means I am not afraid of the judgment of
the Italians, in this chamber there are free women and men and
women and men who are a little less free. Those who are afraid
of the judgement of the Italian people are not a free woman or
man."
Salvini said he was "not afraid" of a possible new government
alliance between the Democratic Party (PD) and his former allies
in the M5S.
As for the coming budget, he said he would fund it with 50
billion euros from tax cuts.
In Europe, he said, he didn't want "an Italy that is a slave
of anyone".
He said the government had fallen because of the "many Mr
Nos" who opposed projects such as the TAV high-speed rail link
between Turin and Lyon.
Salvini rejected Conte's criticism of his use of religious
symbols saying that "as long as I live I will ask for Mary's
protection".
"Amor Vincit Omnia", he said in Latin quoting Virgil's tag
that "Love Conquers All".
Salvini said he was "not afraid" of a possible new government
alliance between the Democratic Party (PD) and his former ally
the M5S.
He wished the M5S well in their collaboration of what he
called "the Bibbiano party", referring to a foster care scandal
in the PD-run town near Reggio Emilia where children were
alleged subjected to electric shocks to train them to denounce
their parents.
Salvini told the M5S that the League was ready to approve a
reduction in the number of Mps and Senators from 945 to 600, a
key M5S policy pledge.
Salvini told the M5S "you quote Saviano, we St John Paul II,
he said and wrote that you don't get trust with declarations
alone or by force, but with concrete actions and facts and if
you want to complete the reforms we are with you. If you want to
govern with Renzi good luck to you".
After Salvini, former premier and ex-PD leader Matteo Renzi
took the floor saying "the populist government has failed".
Renzi said a new government was needed to avert the VAT hike.
He also said that Salvini should clear up the alleged Russian
funding case, suing his former spokesman Giancarlo Savoini,
caught on tape allegedly asking for possible funding as oil
kickbacks, if necessary.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
