Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi's coalition government is on the verge of collapse after the "Five Star Movement" refused to vote for an important decree on financial aid to thousands of families and companies.
Ansa writes about it.
The leadership of the Five Star Movement, led by former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, met Wednesday to decide whether to remain in the coalition -- just before Thursday's vote on a so-called "bailout decree" that would allocate billions to families and companies to fight the effects of the energy crisis and inflation.
Conte announced this evening that his party would not vote. The refusal could lead to a serious crisis, since the party is one of the most important in the ruling coalition.
Draghi has repeatedly said that the government would not work if the Five Star Movement left the ruling majority.
In addition, the right-wing League party, also part of the coalition, will likely not support Draghi if Conte's party leaves.
Last week, Conte handed Draghi a list of demands for the party to remain in the coalition.
Earlier, Conte had accused Draghi of trying to expel the Five Star Movement from the coalition because of part of the party's refusal to support giving Ukraine weapons, an issue that has split the political force.
As a reminder, the Italian Senate in late June by a majority vote approved a resolution calling for continued aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, rejecting attempts by the leadership of one of the coalition parties, the Five Star Movement, to stop providing weapons to Kiev. After the vote, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio reportedly resigned from the Five Star Movement.
Di Maio had previously accused the leader of the Five Star Movement, Conte, of undermining the government's efforts to support Ukraine and weaken Rome's position in the European Union.
"The Five Star Movement has so far been the largest political force in parliament after the party won 33 percent of the vote in the 2018 national elections. Since then, however, support for the party has declined significantly. Recent opinion polls show voter support of only 13%.