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Italy's ex-PM Renzi quits Democrats to form own party Italy's ex-PM Renzi could split PD-M5S coalition with new party
(about 4 hours later)
The former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi has announced he is leaving the centre-left Democratic party (PD) to form his own party, potentially destabilising the days-old ruling coalition. The former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi has quit the centre-left Democratic party (PD) as he carves out a political comeback that risks sabotaging the new ruling coalition.
“I have decided to leave the PD and to build together with others a new house to do politics differently,” Renzi wrote on Facebook, barely a week after the PD’s unlikely coalition with the Five Star Movement (M5S) won a confidence motion in parliament. Renzi, who engineered the alliance between the PD and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) in order to oust the far right from government and stave off snap elections, said he was leaving the party to form a new centrist force that would “do politics differently”.
Renzi is not himself part of the new government, which was formed to thwart the far-right leader and now ex-interior minister Matteo Salvini’s attempt to call snap elections he thought would make him premier. “The victory we obtained in parliament against populism and [the former deputy PM Matteo] Salvini was important to save Italy, but it’s not enough,” Renzi wrote on Facebook. “Now is the time to construct a house that is young, innovative, feminist … where ideas for Italy and Europe are launched. There is an enormous space for different politics.”
But Renzi, who was hailed as a reformer when he became Italy’s youngest prime minister at the age of 39 in 2014, was a divisive figure within the PD, particularly for the left, which is largely loyal to the party leader, Nicolas Zingaretti. Renzi’s move, which was widely anticipated, comes a week after the uneasy coalition won a vote of confidence in both houses of parliament.
“After seven years of friendly fire I think we must take note that our values, our ideas, our dreams, cannot every day be the object of internal quarrels,” Renzi wrote. Renzi said parliamentary groups for the new force would be created this week and that 30 PD lawmakers were expected to join him immediately. He told the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, he still backed the new coalition and that his move would increase support for it among the electorate.
He resigned as prime minister in 2016 and fraught relations within the PD prompted repeated speculation that he would leave to form his own, more centrist, party. Renzi was forced to resign as prime minister in December 2016 following an embarrassing defeat in a referendum on constitutional reform. He then stepped down as leader of the PD after its dismal performance in general elections in March 2018. Those elections led to the creation of a tempestuous alliance between M5S and the far-right League.
“The victory we got in parliament against populism and Salvini was important to save Italy, but it’s not enough,” Renzi wrote. Salvini, former interior minister and leader of the League, plunged Italy into political turmoil in August after pulling the plug on the government as he sought to exploit his popularity and trigger snap elections. In order to thwart the possibility of a fully far-right government, Renzi engineered talks between an initially reluctant PD and M5S.
Italian media reported that about 30 lawmakers might declare their loyalty to Renzi, but that he said he would continue to support the government of the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte. “Sending Salvini home will remain one of the proudest things on my CV,” Renzi told La Repubblica.
Nicola Zingaretti, who has revived the PD in the polls since being elected leader in March, said it was an “error” to split the party. “Especially at a time when its strength is indispensable for the quality of our democracy,” he added on Facebook.
The move will make Conte’s job more challenging and complicate policymaking owing to the demands of three different political forces. It is unclear what Renzi’s long-term aim is. He told the Observer in August that his idea of a PD-M5S coalition was to “save Italy” and not reignite his own career.
“He sees this alliance moving too much towards the left and missing a big chunk of the electorate who do not identify with it … he could grab that 10% and push the system more towards the centre,” said Franco Pavoncello, a political science professor and president of John Cabot University in Rome.
“I don’t think he would go for early elections … he will try to keep the government going for at least another couple of years.”
Renzi has one of the lowest approval ratings among Italian politicians, and pollsters predict his new party could initially capture 3-5% of the electorate’s support.
“Renzi is unpredictable and his bold moves in the past have been badly defeated … so we have to see what happens this time,” added Pavoncello.
Matteo RenziMatteo Renzi
ItalyItaly
EuropeEurope
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