MNI: Italy's League To Vote Against ESM As Elections Near

Italy’s ruling coalition is set to split over ratification of a treaty to overhaul the European Stability Mechanism, with junior partners the League opting to vote against the measure but to stay in government as it manoeuvres ahead of elections, sources from both major parties told MNI.

With the much-delayed vote set for November to ratify the ESM, a key plank of the European Union’s financial stability architecture and long-since approved elsewhere in the bloc, the League intends to stress its differences with the Brothers of Italy Party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ahead of European parliamentary elections next May, a senior League member said.

“I think the ratification will pass in November, but we need arguments to attack, or compete with Brothers of Italy, in the European elections,” said the official, who was personally favourable to ratification, adding that the League was finding it difficult to mark out its electoral territory as it stayed in government with Meloni.

The League has long opposed the reform of the ESM, arguing that it would impose humiliating terms on countries like Italy which applied to it for financial assistance in a crisis. Since Meloni took office in October, Rome has tried to use ratification as a bargaining chip in other negotiations with Brussels over EU fiscal rules and the NextGenerationEU aid programme, but the prime minister and her finance minister, the League’s Giancarlo Giorgetti, have also lobbied parliamentarians to ensure the measure is eventually approved. (See MNI: Italy To Delay ESM Vote Until After Summer - Sources)

While the coalition has faced tensions over other issues, so far the parties have managed to stay together in government. They remain likely to maintain this cohabitation throughout their five-year term, given the shared aims of the two main parties for altering the tax system, electoral law and perhaps the presidential system enshrined in the constitution.

"MACHIAVELLIAN"

Still, the League’s manoeuvring on the ESM is a “Machiavellian move” which could cause an “unexpected political accident,” a senior member of Brothers of Italy told MNI, adding that forcing Meloni to rely on opposition votes to approve the ratification will make her government look weak.

Apart from the League, all major parties in Italy’s parliament save the populist Five-Stars Movement favour approving the ESM treaty.

After almost ten months of almost unprecedented cohesiveness for an Italian government, more internal tensions are likely as the European elections draw closer and as the death of Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi prompts upheaval in the coalition’s smallest party, sources from all three groups told MNI.

Next year's European elections are seen as crucial for Meloni, who wants Brothers of Italy to join the mainstream conservative European People’s Party grouping in the bloc’s parliament and to gain more influence over the European Commission as it deliberates on key topics like NextGenerationEU, sources from Brothers of Italy told MNI.

Overseeing Italy’s ratification of the ESM would confirm the air of relative moderation and reliability that Meloni has cultivated in Brussels and reinforce her influence there, a Brothers of Italy source said.