Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho said Tuesday that political instability in Italy is detrimental to the European Union (EU) but defended that, despite affecting all of Europe, Portugal will not suffer “disproportionately.”
I am very sorry for the instability in Italy, which is a very important country, because of its size and because of the influence that Mario Draghi had,” the Portuguese minister told Lusa, on the sidelines of a visit to Albania and North Macedonia, countries that began the negotiations to join the EU.
João Gomes Cravinho also pointed out that the political situation is “harmful for the EU”.
But at the same time, Italy is a democracy, and it will find the appropriate mechanisms within its normal democratic functioning, we hope that as soon as possible”, stressed the head of the Portuguese diplomacy.
Italy will hold early parliamentary elections on September 25, after the crisis of the national unity government led by Draghi, pressured to resign due to the abandonment of three important partners in his coalition: the 5 Star Movement (M5S), the League and Forza Italia, that he did not approve the motion of confidence in the Government requested by the President of the Government.
A week between the resignation and the fall of the government. How Mario Draghi’s government ended after 18 months
For the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the political crisis in Italy “will affect all of Europe”.
Regarding Portugal, João Gomes Cravinho stressed that the country “has a great credibility in international markets and therefore will not suffer disproportionately.”
“But everyone suffers in some way when the EU is faced with this kind of instability in a country as important as Italy,” he said.
According to the latest polls, the ultra-nationalist Brothers of Italy party, led by Giorgia Meloni, guarantees around 23% of voting intentionsahead of the Democratic Party (also around 20%) and the far-right League (14%).
Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, which lost some of its leaders for refusing to support Draghi, is around 8%.
Draghi presided over a coalition of national unity in the last 17 monthssince February 2021, when he was appointed to manage the crisis of the covid-19 pandemic and the economic recovery of the country, after the fall of his predecessor, Giuseppe Conte, leader of the M5S, who was at the base of the current political crisis. .
The coalition had the support of practically all the parties with a parliamentary seat, from the left to the extreme right, except Giorgia Meloni’s ultra-nationalist movement.
On July 14, Draghi announced that I did not want to continue governing without the support of M5Swhen this party abstained in a first vote of confidence.
At the time, Italian President Sergio Mattarella rejected the resignation request and asked Draghi to try new political solutions, with due support in parliament.
Political crisis in Italy: Mário Draghi resigns after losing support from the 5 Star Movement. The resignation was not accepted by Mattarella
Last week, Mario Draghi won a second confidence vote, but lost the support of three of the parties that supported his coalition -M5S, Força Italia and La Liga-, which justified a new visit to the president, to reiterate his resignation, which was accepted. , leading to early elections.
Italy is expected to go to early elections. Mario Draghi wins the vote of confidence, but without the support of the main coalition parties
Source: Observadora
