Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is looking at the possibility of a collapse of his second coalition government as early as this month, Bloomberg reported, citing six different obstacles that the politician is facing this January.
Conte is currently heading a coalition government between Luigi Di Maio’s Five Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic Party, but the alliance is not considered strong due to a variety of challenges, the outlet notes. This includes the M5S’ proposal for alterations to the justice system, which is opposed by the Democrats, disagreements over proposed referendums, an upcoming Senate vote to decide the fate of former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, and other issues.
The M5S is now calling for an alteration to Italy’s statute of limitations to change the time limits for excessively long trials, but this is opposed by the Democrats and another small party, Italy Alive, which is led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who has vowed to side with the opposition to counter Five Star’s initiative. Another challenging issue could be a proposal to introduce a British-style first-past-the-post voting system, the potential losers of which could put Conte at risk by forcing a snap election before the system is implemented.
While the opposition League Party is currently leading in Italy’s opinion polls, its head Matteo Salvini is facing prosecution for refusing to let a migrant rescue ship dock in the country in July during his term as interior minister, a matter that is seen as another destabilising issue for Italian government.