The Italian opposition’s no-confidence motions against Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè have failed.
After hours of debate in the Chamber of Deputies in Rome on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, both the coalition ministers survived the no-confidence motions brought against them.
The opposition criticsed both ministers for being absent from the Chamber during debates on their suitability to remain in post.
For Salvini, the leader of the League party easily survived the no-confidence motion brought by three centre-right parties. A total of 211 lawmakers voted against the motion, while only 129 voted in favour and three abstained.
The 51-year-old is currently under fire for various statements on Russia. They are being interpreted as Salvini being close to President Vladimir Putin. He has had close contacts with Putin in the past.
Shortly before the vote of no confidence, the League published a statement in which it distanced itself from a cooperation accord it had sealed with the Kremlin’s United Russia party in 2017.
Santanchè under investigation for business fraud
Tourism Minister Santanchè’s no-confidence motion came amid several criminal probes over her business activities. Santanchè said if prosecuted, she would quit.
In the most serious case, she could face charges of aggravated fraud against the Italian national pensions and social security institute INPS. This is over alleged irregular management of funds made available for redundancy payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, following a probe into allegedly improper business practices related to her former Visibilia publishing empire.
News of the investigation emerged last summer after investigative journalism programme Report on Rai 3 reported that businesses linked to Santanchè, allegedly failed to pay suppliers and dismissed workers without giving them redundancy payments, as well as allegedly improperly receiving COVID aid. This prompted calls for her to quit.
The 62-year-old minister, who sold her stake in Visibilia when she became minister, has denied all wrongdoing.
Santanchè received slightly more votes in favour than Salvini, with 213 MPs voting against the no-confidence motion, 121 in favour and three abstentions.
Conte’s concerns over no-confidence motions results
The president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) Giuseppe Conte spoke at an exhibition dedicated to Giacomo Matteotti at Palazzo Braschi, on the motions of no confidence in the coalition ministers Santanchè and Salvini.
“I don’t know how to evaluate whether the motions of no confidence have the effect of uniting the government. It would certainly be a ‘reformatio in peius’. That is, on a basis that certainly undermines the dignity of the institutions, the decorum of the institutions and the honour and respect that it is due to the institutions.
“Because if the unification occurs due to party or coalition solidarity, to mask behaviours which, beyond criminal responsibilities, are absolutely serious in terms of political and ethical responsibility, I say that the government is not doing a good service to the Italy also in an international context.
If the compaction arrives on this terrain, obviously we cannot help but strongly deprecate and stigmatise the government operator”.
