A motion of no-confidence targeting Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, has been scheduled for 3rd or 4th April in the Lower House.
According to House whips’ statements on Wednesday, a motion of no-confidence in the Deputy PM has been raised. It particularly targets Salvini’s right-wing League party’s connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party,
The motion was initiated by the centrist opposition party Azione, led by former industry minister Carlo Calenda. It was subsequently endorsed by the populist 5-Star Movement (M5S), the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), and several smaller left-wing parties.
Salvini has faced criticism for his reluctance to hold Putin accountable for the death of prominent dissident and opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a Siberian prison. Additionally, concerns have been raised about the League’s purported failure to formally sever its ties with United Russia.
Calenda has asserted that the League remains “pro-Putin, albeit less overtly than before, for political expediency.”
Salvini himself has expressed support for Putin’s re-election, stating that the Russian people made the right choice.
Salvini is making a lot of noise
The no-confidence motion comes as little surprise considering the amount of noise emanating from Salvini recently.
Alongside his reluctance to criticise Putin’s re-election, which was seen by much of the free world as neither “fair nor free”, Salvini has been shouting loudly about Macron, foreign student levels and the big white elephant of the Messina Strait bridge.
20% ceiling of foreign children in class
Following the decision of a school in Pioltello closing for Eid, marking the end of Ramadan, which he was very much against, Salvini proposed a maximum quota of “20% of foreign children in a class”.
“I don’t think that in any Islamic country they close for Easter or Christmas,” said Salvini. “Until Islam gives itself a structure and recognises equality between men and women, closing schools seems to me to be a bad sign. It is a sign of giving in and retreating to close for Ramadan.”
However, considering how many children actually attend mass perhaps it doesn’t make sense for schools to close for any religious holiday. Italian society, like much of Europe is increasingly secularised.
According to Pew Research Centre survey, 78% of Italians profess to be Catholic. However, only 19% attend services at least once a week, and 31% never attend. In February this year, Statista published church attendance figures among teenagers in Italy for 2019-2020, showing the percentage attending church at least once a week was down from 20% to 16%.
With these statistics to hand, perhaps secularising all schools and closing without linking to religious holidays would be the way forward? But then, that would not jibe with the conservative way of thinking, would it?
Labelling Macron a “warmonger”
Speaking to journalists in the southern city of Basilicata, Matteo Salvini, said, “Of course, the League party has a very clear, coherent idea of Europe. We are not willing to govern with the socialists, with Macron, with the lords of synthetic steaks, of endless landings, of the lack of control over Islamic fanaticism, of Chinese electric cars at all costs.”
Italy and Europe should be ruled by centre-right parties, not by Macron, he added. “I don’t want a Europe that talks about war, that fuels and threatens war: Europe was born to defend peace. So where there is Macron and there are warmongers, there is no League, there is no me,” he said.
How does Salvini appear to others?
And what does this rhetoric show the world of Salvini? Clearly, that the right thing is about the positioning of politics, not the correct thing to do. Secondly, that the motion of no-confidence over his pro-Putin stance does not seem to be a million miles off.
Thirdly, the environment is not something he feels should be top of the agenda. This despite a country suffering from drought, which in turn leads to failed crops. No one really wants to eat synthetic steaks (we will give him that), but what choice will we have if there’s no natural food for cows to eat?
In amongst the bluff and pomposity of Salvini’s rhetoric there are kernels of truth, but they are fed by a shedload of fertiliser. Yes, Italy and Europe should be looking to keep their own industries going, rather than feed that of other countries such as China. Yes, immigration and subsequent integration of migrants into Italian culture is important and should have a robust framework. However, there is a danger that instead of these frameworks there will be blinkered conservatism which doesn’t face reality.
Unfortunately, unless some of the right and centre-right MPs decide Salvini is too loose a cannon to control, the no-confidence vote is unlikely to be successful. Time will tell.
