Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi won a confidence motion in the upper house Senate on Wednesday, but three main coalition parties refused to take part in the vote, effectively torpedoing his administration.
The motion asked the house to approve a speech made by Draghi earlier in the day, when he demanded unity from his coalition allies. The vote was approved by 95 to 38 with many dozens of senators absenting themselves.
On the right, Forza Italia and the League parties said they would not take part in the vote. They were joined in their boycott by the populist 5-Star Movement which also said it would shun the vote, having set off Italy's latest political crisis with a similar boycott last week.
Draghi had tendered his resignation last week, but President Sergio Mattarella turned him down and told him to go before parliament to see if he could revive the 18-month-old administration.
Speaking to the upper house earlier in the day, Draghi set out a series of issues facing Italy ranging from the war in Ukraine to social inequality and rising prices, and said political parties needed to get behind him if he was to steer the country to elections due in the first half of 2023.
"The only way, if we want to stay together, is to rebuild this pact, with courage, altruism and credibility," Draghi said in an uncompromising speech to the Senate, adding that many Italians wanted the coalition to carry on.
But his call for unity appeared to have fallen on deaf ears, as conservative parties within the coalition said they would remain in the cabinet only if 5-Star was excluded.
'Perfect storm'
If Draghi decides there is not sufficient unity in his coalition, he will almost certainly resign, opening the way for early elections in September or October.
"The Italian parliament has gone against the will of the people," the head of Italy's centre-left Democratic Party (PD), another coalition party, said on Wednesday.
"Italians will show themselves to be wiser at the ballot box than their politicians," PD chief Enrico Letta wrote on Twitter, signalling that he expected early elections to be called to break the impasse.
Polls in the lead up to Wednesday's drama suggested most Italians wanted Draghi, 74, to stay at the helm until the scheduled general election in May next year.
The actions of "irresponsible" parties risked "creating a perfect storm," EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Twitter, adding that Italy faced "difficult months ahead".
"Draghi's possible departure would be a significant blow for Italy and for the EU ahead of a difficult winter," said Luigi Scazzieri of the Centre for European Reform.
There is much at stake: a government collapse could worsen social ills in a period of rampant inflation, delay the budget, threaten EU post-pandemic recovery funds and send jittery markets into a tailspin.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
