MNI: Five-Star Truce A Relief For Draghi, Despite Challenges

A deal to avoid a split in the biggest party in Italy's parliament has been received with relief within Prime Minister Mario Draghi's inner circle despite potentially making it more difficult to reach a deal over a key reform to speed up the country's courts, a government source told MNI.

While the newly-united Five-Star Movement wants a more ambitious justice reform than that proposed by Draghi's justice minister, the prime minister's advisors had feared that a fracture in the populist force would have forced the government to depend more on the right-leaning League during what looks set to a difficult summer of talks in the parliament.

Italy must approve not only the overhaul of the country's sclerotic justice system but also other key reforms including changes to taxation by December in order to meet the conditions of EUR200 billion in EU funding for its Covid recovery plan.

"At the moment we have been solving well the different problems we have been facing," one official said, though acknowledging that challenges remained.

The government has been pressing for quick approval of the courts reform, partly to take advantage of the temporary disarray in Five-Stars, according to an official from a centre-left party which is part of Draghi's coalition. If negotiations slip into August, lawmakers may be distracted as they begin a six-month period during which they must choose Italy's next president, the government fears.

FIVE-STAR TRUCE

Parliament must also approve a so-called delegation law authorising the government to design an overhaul of Italy's over-complicated taxation system. This must be done by July 31, and, while the different political parties are likely to limit the scope of the reform, particularly with regards to any potential increases in tax, officials believe its chances of success have been boosted by the Five-Star truce.

Five-Star, though, is in no mood to compromise on justice, following the deal between one of its founders, the comedian Beppe Grillo, and former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, who wants to transform the movement into a more conventional centrist party. Party sources told MNI that the two agreed on calling for a more ambitious reform than that proposed by Justice Minister Marta Cartabia, a former president of the constitutional court, and on insisting that the changes ensure that those accused of corruption cannot escape trial.

Five-Star's stance is going to make it more difficult to reach a deal on the courts reform by the deadline, government officials agreed. Draghi will resist the party's proposals, they said, as his government is already dealing with thousands of attempted amendments to other key decrees, including those designed to accelerate bureaucratic procedures and to approve an upcoming fiscal stimulus.

Another problem is that the tensions within Five Star may not be contained for long, officials said, adding that the danger of a split could return within months. Conte seems to have emerged as the winner in the power struggle, opening the way to changes to party rules, but Grillo may not stay satisfied for long, they said.