Uncertainty for Italy: Guardian

Italy and its populist forces are in political crisis. Giuseppe Conte resigned as prime minister and “The president, Sergio Mattarella, is now calling the shots in a crisis triggered when Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on the League’s tenuous relationship with the Five Star Movement (M5S) in an attempt to capitalise on his popularity and become PM,” reports Angela Giuffrida. The president has three options: call a snap election, form a new coalition or install a caretaker government to pass the budget for 2020. Support for Salvini and his far-right League has risen to 17 percent since 2018, but he may underestimate the disdain from other political parties and their ability to block him. If other parties “do manage to strike an agreement, Salvini would be ousted from his roles as deputy prime minister and interior minister, from which he has spent the last year building up his and the League’s profile.” Italy’s debt is more than 130 percent of GDP, the fourth highest in the world. Populists, in a quest for power, struggle to get along with others and blame the European Union for Italy’s difficulties. – YaleGlobal