Prime minister resigns amid a political crisis
ROME — Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte resigned Tuesday, blaming the collapse of his 14monthold populist government on his rebellious, antimigrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who triggered a political crisis to try to force early elections.
Addressing the Senate, Conte blasted Salvini for setting in motion a “dizzying spiral of political and financial instability” by essentially pulling the plug on the government. Salvini’s rightwing League party sought a noconfidence vote against Conte earlier this month, a stunningly bold move for the government’s junior coalition partner.
Conte, a lawyer with no political experience who was tapped to break a postelection stalemate last year, handed his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella at the presidential palace Tuesday night.
Mattarella, who is head of state, requested that Conte and the rest of the government stay on in a caretaker role, while he works in the coming days to determine whether to call new elections. Mattarella will first see if another viable coalition can be cobbled together.
Salvini, who sat next to Conte during his speech, smirking at times, declared, “I’d do it all again.” He repeatedly kissed a rosary he slipped out of his pocket right after Conte rebuked him for associating “political slogans with religious symbols.”
Pressing for elections as soon as possible, Salvini said: “I don’t fear Italians’ judgment.”
Salvini has taken to dangling a rosary and invoking the protection of the Virgin Mary in political rallies around the country, even though no election campaign is underway.
In the European Parliament election three months ago in Italy, as well as in current opinion polls, Salvini’s League party has become the No. 1 political force among Italians. His crackdown on migrants, whom the party’s voter base largely blames for crime, appears to be a huge factor in Salvini’s climbing popularity.