Read on Twitter
Conte is now responding to the speeches made today by senators, soon the latter will start to vote.
This is what I think is likely to happen.
This is what I think is likely to happen.
Conte should gain his plurality in the Senate, but not an absolute majority, although he should come near it thanks to some life senators & ship jumpers (i.e. from Forza Italia).
The true winners should be the many Parliamentarians who do not want fresh elections for reasons that I have explained in countless threads in recent months.
There will be no “take-all” winners as far as political leaders are concerned, however Conte should come out of it standing.
It is not the first time a govt can only command a plurality in the Senate. Hence I expect President Mattarella to let Conte continue.
Nonetheless, this situation will only make for “Strong and Stable government” in Theresa May’s sense... with Conte having to worry even more than before each time a piece of legislation comes to the Senate (with various veto players making sure their voices are heard).
On the other hand, the current governing majority has to hang on until July, then they are safer for a further 6 months.
After that, Mattarella enters the last 6 months of his presidency, so Parliament cannot be sent packing in that period & early elections cannot be called – so says the Constitution.
Rather than being the “pro-EU” govt (apparently), this promises to be the “limping on” one.& it will still need to talk to one @matteorenzi from time to time, who will wait in the wings for the opportunity to vote with Conte “because this time they have listened to my proposals!”
That government reshuffle we were talking about back in December? Well, that will take a little time to be finalised, no doubt… But it's on the way - fear not!
Despite the fact that he will not disappear, and no doubt will continue to receive huge coverage in the media, Renzi-Demolition Man has truly managed to scrap himself and his party in the medium/long term.
Cool.
Cool.
He has p***ed off those on the right (he could have sunk Conte & did not), those on the left (he’s caused all this for what?), & his own MPs/senators (good luck being re-elected with Italia Viva, particularly now that the number of Parliamentarians are about to be cut by 1/3...)
But then again, he wears wrecking everything he touches as his badge of honour. No doubt we will hear a lot in the near future (every day, on every major TV) about why this always made sense in the first place. We will hear it from Renzi himself (it's a personal party after all).
So check from the news agencies if all this comes to pass in a few minutes. I am off cooking for the little ones, enjoy! /END/
