Salvini shoots himself in the foot

The leader of the League, who was approaching 40% of consensus and climbing, trips up on his own ego and his provincial attitude and sees his ratings wane relentlessly

One of the most disastrous cases of sunstroke took place this summer at the Papeete Beach, a seaside resort in Milano Marittima, on the Adriatic Coast. The scorching sun must have obviously revealed a mirage, a short cut to total control over Italy. Up until last June, Matteo Salvini was the undisputed king, and led Italy with his 17 percent share in parliament (40% in the polls), in a government which, after the League‘s successful European election campaign (34%), he commanded at will.

Then he decided he wanted more. The cat (meaning him) had to eat the mouse Giggino (Di Maio), and this meant putting an end to Giuseppe Conte’s government and the alliance with the 5 Stars Movement and head to elections! However, over the course of a couple of weeks, the former vice-president found himself crownless, without elections and railing against a new government that owed its inception to his oversight.

The facts are known, but it’s worth reviewing them briefly: in early August, the League and the 5 Stars quarrelled over the TAV rail link, and after the canning of a 5 star movement motion in the Senate (when the League voted with the PD, Forza Italia and Fratelli d’Italia), Matteo Salvini announced that the government had collapsed, and called for new elections.

“We don’t want posts, a reshuffle or technical governments: after this government there can only be elections.” A few days later in an interview with the Corriere della Seta Matteo Renzi suddenly turned the tables on him. Renzi, who had gone tooth and nail at Grillo’s people for months, unexpectedly suggested that a temporary PD-5SM government might be possible, to avoid increasing VAT, a rise that would be triggered automatically if no budget was approved. When Salvini cottoned on it was too late. He tried to backpedal rather awkwardly, withdrawing his no confidence vote and opening to a reduction of parliamentary members (which the 5 Stars had been calling for for months), before backtracking once more and asking for the people to be consulted. It’s a plot! It’s the powers that be (exactly which?), the European chancelleries, Merkel in person.

When Giuseppe Conte appeared before parliament to hand in his resignation, he gave him an earful, 50 minutes of high audience live television during which Salvini was slammed into making ridiculous grimaces and the outgoing prime minister, for months a Mr. Nobody, suddenly became a someone, to the extent that he earned himself a second go. In the Senate, Conte seemed to stand out as a man of substance and Salvini’s slogans inappropriate for an institutional context: his pub talk, pseudo-Catholic exhibitionism and his claims to represent 60 million Italians were fine for Facebook, but in the Senate they fell flat!

This day in parliament will be recalled as one of the most dramatic in Italy’s history. When a government ends (as happens all too often in Italy, the European record holder for number of governments since the War), the personal relationships between fellow politicians often deteriorate, but very rarely have we witnessed such a fierce clash between a prime minister and his deputy. The two had been quibbling for months. In March there had been the first public quarrel when Conte had stated his case: “One has to pull one’s socks up, work in the ministries every day and study issues before speaking, otherwise it’s chaos.” The issue of those who spend time taking selfies and those at work for the country will be a recurring theme for the months before the collapse.

The Salvini-Conte clash was fierce (in both Houses), even on the day the Conte II was voted in. The former Minister of the Interior seemed to take it personally: “A man entirely devoted to power, with no dignity”, “We’ve discovered a new Monti”, “The man who whispers to Merkel”. Conte’s response was dignified but equally scathing: “He’s got stuck on the 8^th of August, when he arrogantly, and with no understanding of constitutional law, believed he could send the government packing and unilaterally call the country to elections (…) and equally unilaterally and arbitrarily concentrate all power in himself.”

Now Matteo Salvini is trying to recover the lost ground, but it’s like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube. Without his ministerial visibility he’s seeking new avenues: the TV face off with Renzi and the united centre-right demonstration against the Government in Rome (now he even has a use for Berlusconi, who he was ready to can a few months ago). In the talk show with TV Host Bruno Vespa, the two Matteos behaved just like we’d predicted in our most recent Front Page, offering hackneyed and irritating sketches (at a venue they’d previously used as a consensus machine), with the blessing of the formerly distinguished anchor, now a pawn to show-biz!

The polls confirm that the League, though having lost consensus (-8% in a few weeks) after the end of the yellow-green government, still tops the rankings among Italians: the League’s experts claim that Salvini is trying to make himself more presentable by softening his pitchfork language to woo the moderate electorate that still doesn’t trust him.

In a recent interview in Il Foglio, which was also picked up by the foreign press, he tried to adjust his sights on a number of issues, foremost among them Europe: “I want to say once and for all, and then I hope no one, in or outside my party, will raise the issue again. The League does not want Italy to leave the euro or the European Union. To be clear: the euro cannot be undone.” Even the grim Matteo seems to have understood (better late than never) that anti-euro battles don’t bring votes, if even Marine Le Pen has rushed out to state in recent months “that adopting a new currency is no longer a priority.”

The change of tone of the League’s leader, who a short while ago could be seen with an “ENOUGH OF the euro” t-shirt, did however have a few of his fellow party members jumping on their seats: “Perhaps the interview got it wrong (…) nothing is irreversible, not even death…” tweeted Claudio Borghi, the League’s president of the Lower Houses’ Budget Commission. Salvini, who is seeking the moderate vote but can’t risk losing his own, soon retraced his steps: “If in the future European monetary policies are to be redrawn we’re here and we’ll have our say.” Say no more…

However, despite his mellow tones, the faint-hearted restyling is hardly credible.

No regrets on his inconclusive battle against migrants, his illiberal laws, on his men’s trips to Russia and his unpleasant friendships in Europe (the eternal loser Le Pen, the neo-Nazis of Alternative für Deutschland). Salvini may have (laboriously) changed his tune, but not his path.

Whatever the Sovereigntists believe, all effective policies pass through Brussels. Salvini has admitted the need to use the time in opposition to work a few things out, but he should start by assessing the partners he’s chosen in Europe, all of whom have no political interest in the southern countries  of the Union. The new 5Stars, their bedfellows until three months ago, have made more headway, seeing as they have entered conversations with the European Greens, and seem intent on backing the Green New Deal that has won over the new generations of all walks of life.

@GiuScognamiglio

This article is also published in the November/December issue of eastwest.

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