ITALY WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT

An early parliamentary election has been held in Italy. The legislative body of the country consists of two chambers: the 630-seat Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, which brings together 315 deputies. We note that deputies are elected to both chambers of the Italian parliament by a proportional ballot in accordance with the lists of coalitions standing in the election. In fact, the establishment of coalitions of parties is also a peculiarity of the electoral process in Italy, which is famous for frequent re-election of the legislature and changes of government. Elections in Italy involve a large number of parties, many of them marginal with very original names. Thus, the Italian political firmament has parties with names such as "I love Italy" or, even more intriguingly, the "Italian Pirate Party". This speaks in favor of how mosaic this country's political space is and explains that "young" politician and skilled comedian Bella Grillo has not been lost in it. But first things first.

The government crisis in Italy has been ongoing for over a year. Along with the "traditional" domestic political upheavals, the last two Italian governments were "shattered" by the international crisis which had a negative impact on a number of eurozone countries, including Italy. The beginning of the crisis was marked by the departure of the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Gianfranco Fini, from the government bloc and the establishment of his own party in July 2010. This broke Berlusconi's coalition government, which, despite the crisis within the government, could hold out until November 2011. Following this, Italian President Napolitano sacked Berlusconi and appointed a new prime minister, Mario Monti, in order to form a "technocrat government", as is usually the case in the time of crisis in countries practicing the parliamentary system of governance. Despite a number of important decisions implemented by the government of Monti, the new cabinet existed for only a little over one year. In December, the government of the former EU Commissioner Monti, which was quite efficient in the short time of its existence, was dismissed and on 21 December 2012 President Napolitano dissolved the parliament.

The election results were not received unequivocally. On the one hand, on the background of the failure of economic policies and scandals of the Berlusconi government, experts had predicted the victory of the center-left coalition "Italy: the Common Good," which consists of seven parties led by the Democratic Party of Pier Bersani. However, this victory was not unconditional - the center-left coalition won a majority in the Chamber of Deputies, but the number of their deputies in the Senate has decreased. Also, the Senate election was won by the center-right coalition "People of Freedom" comprised of eight Berlusconi parties. It should be noted that elections to the Senate are conducted by a vote in the regions. Berlusconi is traditionally popular in major regions such as Sicily and Lombardy, which has allowed him to gain a slight advantage in the Senate.

The surprise of the election is the relative success of the "Movement of five stars" coalition led by Beppe Grillo, which received 25.5 per cent of the votes. Grillo got the votes of the electorate wishing thereby to show their attitude to the measures being taken to consolidate the budget and stimulate the competitiveness prescribed by the EU authorities to resolve the economic crisis in the country. 

According to the results of the election to the legislature, a stalemate has emerged in Italy. The expectations that the new parliament will stabilize the political situation in Italy have not been justified. No coalition has won a majority in either of the chambers and therefore can not create its own government.

The center-left coalition of Bersani won the most votes, but it is not enough to create a majority government. It was expected that after the election Bersani would start to form a coalition with Monti, but the total number of votes of both coalitions is not sufficient for the required 50-per cent threshold to build a majority government. It was not ruled out that the government coalition could be joined by Grillo. But he said early on that he would not participate in any coalitions. He thus ruled out possible interaction and the creation of a government with Berlusconi. In addition, the creation of such a government would have been grim for the EU. The Left led by Bersani and protest Grillo would not carry out the necessary reforms in line with EU requirements.

The very victory of Bersani and the fact that Grillo made it to parliament are indicative of the mood in Italian society. The decisions of the Monti government did not go down well with nearly 60 per cent of the country's electorate. For the leaders of the EU member states the election was like a cold shower. They view the results of the election as a threat to the very existence of the EU, because Italy is one of the Union's three largest countries. International stock exchanges immediately reacted to the election results. The victory of Bersani, who in the past was a communist, has had a negative impact on the indexes which have plummeted. The EU is warily watching the developments unfolding in Italy, without seeing a possible way out of this impasse.

Another option to form a government is an agreement between polar parties in the last election: Bersani and Berlusconi. History is replete with examples of polar-minded parties forming unions. Eventually, however, these experiments have not given positive results: coalitions were fragile and as their differences grew, they quickly disintegrated. The votes of both coalitions would be enough to form a government, but there are no guarantees that it will be effective. Even the leaders themselves do not believe in a unity for the sake of unity.

Given the deadlock, Berlusconi has already called for another parliamentary election, which in the current situation may seem as a way out of the situation. If an early election is seen as a solution to the crisis, the question immediately arises as to why this situation should not happen again or even deteriorate after the next election. In general, the parliamentary election in Italy has been influenced by a complex set of factors and events. These include the fact that the Italian electorate is tired of the current political leaders who have long used up their credit. 

Italy, like all of Europe, is experiencing a crisis of new leaders who could offer an alternative perception of political realities. It is under these circumstances that individuals such as Grillo, who would otherwise be unlikely to receive a fourth of the votes, can come to the fore. Grillo's triumph marks not only the financial crisis in Italy. In principle, the balance of votes in the election is an indicator of confidence for the European Union in the conditions of economic collapse. And as the results show, the result is certainly not in favor of the supranational structure. Meanwhile, political Italy continues to seek a political solution to the current puzzle.