Italian formation in high tension after Berlusconi advances to Putin

• Helen D’Haens

  correspondent Italy

“Italy has five years of political stability ahead of it,” said Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini after the electoral victory of the right a few weeks ago. But the government has not yet been formed and its coalition partners are already fighting each other. The accusations between Silvio Berlusconi of Forza Italia and the alleged premier Giorgia Meloni fly back and forth.

Today the training course officially begins: the president meets the presidents of both chambers, after which Meloni is charged with forming a government. But she doesn’t get along easily.

The feud between Berlusconi and Meloni began last week, when photographers in the Senate zoomed in on a note in which Berlusconi had listed what he thinks of Meloni. “She is haughty, bossy, arrogant and violent.” The word “ridiculous” was originally there, but it had been crossed out.

His resentment has to do with the list of ministers Meloni is working on behind the scenes. He refused a ministerial appointment for Licia Ronzulli, a Forza Italia politician who years ago helped organize the flower flower-parties. “Berlusconi forgot something about his ticket,” Meloni replied poisonously. “That I am not blackmailable.”

The tension between the two is striking, as Meloni took over as prime minister years ago when Berlusconi was prime minister. Now that Meloni’s party has become by far the largest in the elections, the balance of power is quite the opposite. Yet they need each other to form a majority.

As in the case of Italian politics, the revolt was therefore resolved as quickly as it arose. Meloni had even asked Berlusconi to “give him some advice”, the 86-year-old senator boasted after the meeting in which the two made peace. They smiled again for the cameras.

Berlusconi posted a picture of this on Twitter.

That peace, however, did not last long. In recent days, audio clips have leaked in which Berlusconi speaks highly of Russian leader Putin and condones the invasion of Ukraine.

In the first fragment, in which Berlusconi speaks to members of his group in the Senate, he says he has strengthened ties with the Russian president. “For my birthday he sent me twenty bottles of vodka and a very sweet letter. I replied with bottles of Lambrusco and a sweet letter of reply.”

In the second fragment, which was recorded yesterday by a party mate, Berlusconi explains why, according to him, Russia has invaded Ukraine. Putin is said to have come to the aid of the two “independent republics” in Donbas only after they were attacked by the Zelensky government.

“He has decided to launch a special operation (…) to overthrow the current government and establish a government (…) of good and reasonable people,” Berlusconi said. “After a week he wanted to retire. But he encountered a situation of unexpected resistance from the Ukrainians, who from the third day received money and weapons from the West”.

Furthermore, Berlusconi says he does not understand why Putin and Zelensky do not negotiate with each other. “I think Zelensky is (…) late, I can’t tell.”

Unlike the relatively harmless squabbles over Berlusconi’s note, his statements about Ukraine are putting Meloni in a lot of trouble. The radical right-wing politician has always stressed that with her at the helm Italy would have a pro-NATO course and that support for Ukraine is indisputable. International allies may wonder to what extent this is true if one of her coalition members clearly thinks otherwise.

Last night he therefore placed a limit on Berlusconi’s behavior in a press release. “I intend to lead a government with a clear and unambiguous foreign policy. Italy, with its head held high, is a full member of Europe and NATO. Those who disagree cannot be part of the government. at the expense of forming the government ”.

The right-wing government formation is unlikely to be really jeopardized. After today’s first round of consultations, Mattarella invited Meloni, Berlusconi and Salvini together tomorrow. Berlusconi should back off and get them out anyway, even if the post of the Foreign Ministry may not be entrusted to his party.

If all goes according to plan, the new government could be sworn in this month. But the illusion that Italy has “five years of political stability in perspective” with that government, as Matteo Salvini had predicted, has already been shattered.