Former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi is leaving the Democrats to form his own new centrist party. Some thirty lawmakers are reportedly ready to go with him.
Renzi, a social democrat, is hoping to do for Italy what Emmanuel Macron did for France.
Don’t bet on it. Read more “Renzi Won’t Become the Italian Macron”
Italy’s center-left leader, Matteo Renzi, has stepped down after his Democratic Party fell from first to fourth place in the election on Sunday.
I argued here in January that Renzi had two challenges: uniting the left and convincing voters he could still deliver reforms.
He failed at both. He watered down labor reforms in an attempt to appease the left wing of his party, but they walked out anyway. He didn’t secure a supermajority for constitutional reforms, necessitating a referendum to which he then foolishly tied his own political career.
Renzi did get important things right, not in the least recognizing that the future of the Democratic Party lies not with old working-class voters but with the young and college graduates. Yet he failed to dissuade them from supporting the Five Star Movement. Read more “Renzi Resigns, Italy Split Down the Middle, War on the Spanish Right”
When Matteo Renzi won back control of Italy’s Democratic Party a year ago, I argued he had two challenges:
He has failed on both counts. Read more “Italy’s Renzi Has Failed on Two Counts”
Italy’s Democratic Party leader, Matteo Renzi, has called for a German-style voting system in his country that could pave the way for a left-right coalition government.
Italy must have voting reform before elections can be held this year or next. Read more “Italy’s Renzi Calls for German-Style Voting System”
Italy’s Matteo Renzi has won a convincing mandate for his center-left agenda, winning over 70 percent support in the Democratic Party’s leadership contest.
The former premier, who stepped down in December after losing a referendum on constitutional reform, is believed to be plotting a comeback.
After prevailing in this weekend’s primary, he can comfortably brush off criticism that he governed too much from the center. Read more “After Winning Back Party Control, Renzi Faces Two Challenges”
Italy’s Democratic Party leader, Matteo Renzi, launched his candidacy for reelection this week by presenting himself as the alternative to nationalist leaders in his own country as well as America and France.
“Some people wanted a party congress to find an alternative to Renzi-ism. It needs to be done as an alternative to Trumpism, Le Penism and even Grilloism,” the former prime minister said, referring to the new president of the United States, the leader of France’s National Front and the founder of Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement. Read more “Renzi Picks Side in Italy’s Blue-Red Culture War”
Matteo Renzi is being replaced as Italy’s prime minister this week, but the center-left party leader is already plotting his return to the Palazzo Chigi.
President Sergio Mattarella asked Paolo Gentiloni, Renzi’s foreign minister, to form a government on Sunday, which is expected to stay in power until elections can be held.
Italian media report that the outgoing prime minister is keen to call elections in early 2017 in order to stage a comeback. Read more “Italy’s Renzi Plots Return to Power After Referendum Defeat”
Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation in the early hours of Monday morning after the country rejected constitutional changes he had put to a referendum.
With nearly half the votes counted, the “no” side was leading with close to 60 percent.
Speaking from the Palazzo Chigi in Rome, Renzi said he took “full responsibility” for the reforms’ defeat. Read more “Renzi Steps Down After Italy Rejects Constitutional Reforms”
After Brexit, the Dutch “no” to the European Union’s association agreement with Ukraine and the election of Donald Trump, Italy’s constitutional referendum in December is being portrayed as the next battle in the war between populists and the powers that be.
There is something to this. The Italian referendum campaign pits a center-left leader, Matteo Renzi, who is very much in line with the European consensus against an assortment of insurgents, from the populist Five Star Movement on the left to the anti-immigrant Northern League on the right and some of Renzi’s nemeses in the ruling Democratic Party in between for good measure.
But the story of the plebiscite, and how it could end in Renzi’s downfall, is more about a young prime minister’s hubris than it is about transnational political trends. Read more “Italy’s Renzi Brought Referendum Mess on Himself”
European democracy is in a state of crisis. The British referendum on EU membership has just backfired spectacularly on its promoters, Austria’s far-right Freedom Party recently came within a hair’s breadth of capturing the presidency and in France, Marine Le Pen’s Front national looks set to make it through to the second round of voting in the French presidential elections next year.
Now Italy is facing its own moment of reckoning with a referendum on constitutional reform, likely to go ahead this autumn. Like Brexit, the decision to hold this vote might end up destroying the man who sponsored it — Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
The reform is a package aimed at reducing the fragmentation that causes so many problems in Italian politics. The idea is to increase executive stability and the efficiency of the whole system. But Renzi has staked his political future on the outcome having said, earlier in the year, he would resign if the vote went against him. Read more “Italy’s Referendum Is Giving Matteo Renzi Sleepless Nights”
