The response was immediate. After an hour and a half of fruitless interview in which Mario Draghi had shown Giuseppe Conte that the increase in the appropriations for the Defense is in line with previous years, starting with those in which the same people’s lawyer sat in Palazzo Chigi , the premier made it known, without beating around the bush and with a passage to the Quirinale to highlight it, that questioning “the commitments undertaken” in such a serious moment, with the war on the doorstep of Europe would undermine “the pact that keeps the majority standing. “
The hypothesis of a government crisis
Draghi’s is not a hot reaction. In reverse. The first to air a crisis was not the prime minister but Conte himself, who in recent days had repeated several times that M5s would “never” vote for rearmament. Now it is unthinkable that a political leader, a former prime minister, does not realize that a possible “dissociation” on such an important issue could not remain without consequences. And that we wanted to reach a rupture is also confirmed by what happened in the same hours in the Senate where the pentastellati were furious because the president of the Defense commission, Roberta Pinotti of the Pd (the party that should be Conte’s main ally) did not vote on the agenda presented by the Brothers of Italy, that is, by the opposition, on which the split of the majority would be consummated given that the government had given a favorable opinion. “We would have voted against” confirmed the M5s leader himself with reference to the document that commits the Government to reach the 2% of GDP threshold for military expenditure as required by the NATO agreement and which is identical to that approved by the Chamber on March 16 with the support of M5s too.
The firmness of Draghi, the choices of Conte
This is the prologue that led to the climb to Colle di Draghi. The premier has no intention of allowing ambiguity on such an important issue, on which the role of Italy is at stake, indicated among the countries called to guarantee compliance with the peace agreements in a future that is hopefully very near. Now it’s up to Conte to decide what to do?
There are those who argue that the recently reconfirmed M5s leader is tempted by a return to the polls shortly, in June. Quite unlikely hypothesis. Even if the vertical fall established by the polls were stopped and without even taking into account the constraint of the second term that would prevent many of the current parliamentarians from being reappointed, few would be able to aspire to return to Parliament, given that there is also the need to do count with the reform that reduced the number of deputies and senators wanted by the Beppe Grillo Movement.
Not to mention that, if you do not arrive at the end of September, the annuity will not accrue automatically but you will have to pay all the missing contributions. “Last but not least”, the risk of splitting: it is difficult to imagine Luigi Di Maio following Conte on this path since the Foreign Minister is among the most convinced to continue the government line.