The Italian government crisis
triggered by the defection of Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva (IV)
party must be resolved by confidence votes in parliament,
Premier Giuseppe Conte told the Lower House ahead of the first
one Monday.
Appealing to centrist so-called 'constructors' who could replace
IV, the premier called for the "limpid backing of liberals,
popular party members and socialists".
Conte said former premier Renzi - whom he blamed for a "grave
act of irresponsibility - had "opened a crisis that must find in
this forum its clarification with transparency with respect to
the clear action which marked my mandate".
Conte is seeking enough so-called 'constructors' to replace IV
crucially in the Senate where he no longer has a majority and
where he will face the second of the two confidence votes on
Tuesday.
"We need the widest possible consensus among willing forces,"
Conte said as he addressed the possible 'constructors' who could
save his executive.
Conte said the crisis had "dissipated energies in sterile
polemics"; that it was "without any foundation", and that the
government had improved the COVID Recovery Plan which Renzi had
cited as the reason for his defection. He said the use of the
European Stability Mechanism for health spending "doesn't come
into it".
The premier said the crisis had damaged the country, and "what
has happened cannot be cancelled", effectively rebuffing Renzi's
tentative overtures to do a U-turn and return to the
administration he brought down.
Conte said Italy "deserves a cohesive government" and called on
lawmakers to now help it "turn the page".
He said the Recovery Plan would be "a collective and shared
effort".
Conte said that his aim was to continue to bring about reform,
"From the start I worked for the creation of the prospect of a
board, courageous design for a new season of reform based on
sustainability, social and territorial cohesion and the full
development of the human person," Conte said as he appealed to
the lawmakers to back his executive, "That vision is still
present today".
The premier also said the government would promoted a
proportional electoral system, appealing to lawmakers in the
small centrist groups he needs to replace IV.
He also said he would "reinforce" the government team and would
serve put the rest of the legislative term which ends in 2023.
"We will build a government that is open to those who hold dear
the country's state and fate", said the PM.
Conte is appealing to parliament to keep his government alive
after IV party triggered the crisis by pulling its support last
week.
The premier faces the first of two crunch confidence votes in
the lower chamber, with an even stiffer test coming in the
Senate on Tuesday if his executive survives in the House on
Monday.
He is set to appeal to so-called 'constructor' lawmakers from
outside the ruling coalition to vote for the government and stop
it collapsing in the middle of the COVID-10 pandemic.
The two senior partners in the ruling coalition, the 5-Star
Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), have
already rejected the idea of patching things up with ex-premier
Renzi.
But the PD has kept the door open to individual IV lawmakers and
two have said that they will break ranks from the centrist
group.
The centre-right opposition has called for snap elections,
arguing that, even if the government survives the confidence
votes, if will be too weak to effectively rule the country.
Life Senator and Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre said she will
defy medical advice and will be in Rome to vote for the
government, describing the crisis as "incomprehensible".
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