Italy: Five-star base votes on fate of the coalition

Actually, Luigi Di Maio could be satisfied. At the age of only 32, he became vice-premier of Italy in 2018. And this summer his political masterpiece followed: Ironically, he, the nice, friendly, slightly colorless boss of the five-star movement, defeated Matteo Salvini, the right superstar of Italian politics.

Instead of new elections there is a new coalition. Salvini flies out. Di Maio continues to rule. Europe breathes, the financial markets are relieved, the loss of power is averted: It went well for Di Maio and the Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S).

Or not?

Remo Casilli / REUTERS

Five-star boss Luigi Di Maio: party supporters have the last word

The stars have been rumbling for days. Part of the movement mourns the alliance with Salvinis Lega. Another does not trust the new partner, the Democratic Party (PD). In between are those who defend a government with the Social Democrats. Today, they are all allowed to cast their votes: from 9 am to 6 pm, some ten thousand supporters of the M5S decide online via the online platform "Rousseau" about the fate of the new coalition. "Our members have the last word," Di Maio promised. If they vote no, the unusual alliance between populists and traditionalists is history again, before it starts.

On Di Maio all eyes are directed

All eyes are now on Di Maio and his goals - for himself and for the party. Recently it was not clear how he really finds the rapid partner change. Again and again he surprised in the coalition negotiations with new demands and Ulitmaten. First, he brought 10 substantive points in the talks, then it was suddenly 20. Friend and enemy were already surprised at his erroneous behavior.

In the past, Di Maio often gave the impression that nobody could surpass him in terms of magnanimity, selflessness and pragmatism. Although he won twice as many votes as Salvini in the parliamentary elections in 2018, he renounced the post of prime minister. The office took instead Guiseppe Conte, a non-party law professor from Florence. "You are a rare pearl," Di Maio raved in late August in a public letter to the outgoing head of state.

When Lega leader Matteo Salvini realized that he had gambled spectacularly and would end up without the hoped-for new elections in the opposition, he offered Di Maio the post of prime minister in a continued star-lega coalition - an immoral offer. It was a desperate step, after all, Salvini had loudly cursed the Star Ministers for being a preventer and a no-sayer.

Beppe Grillo for more "euphoria"

Di Maio refused. It was a quiet triumph. Maybe a little too quiet, even for his circumstances. He stubbornly clung to his - purely symbolic - title of Deputy Prime Minister and fought against becoming a simple minister in a second Conte administration. But the Social Democrats were against it, they demanded the post of the Vices for themselves. At the weekend it temporarily looked as though the alliance would fail. As if the beautiful pictures from the Quirinal Palace, where both parties had just demonstrated their new friendship to the President, were completely in vain.

REUTERS

Five-star founder Beppe Grillo (Stock Photo 2018): "I'm exhausted now"

Eventually star founder Beppe Grillo spoke up. The 71-year-old has long since withdrawn from active politics and works again as a comedian. He has long left his life's work to Luigi Di Maio. But when the patriarch becomes political, there is a crash in his movement. On Saturday evening it was time. For more than six minutes, Grillo scolded a video about current politics and about people who were just "posts and points".

"Basta! Basta!" He shouted into the camera. Italy is currently in a "historical moment". He wanted more "euphoria", a look at the next ten years, answers to the question of which society to live in. "We have to rethink everything," he shouted at the end wild gesticulating. Then he fell silent, leaning forward. "Dio mio!" He said, "now I'm exhausted."

Five-star party base votes today on coalition

After that it went fast. On Sunday, the Social Democrats proposed not appointing any deputy prime minister at all. Monday afternoon, Di Maio agreed. He wants to settle for a ministerial post.

Now it is up to the star devotees to form their opinion of all this. About 100,000 party members are registered on the platform "Rousseau"; depending on the topic, 25,000 to 56,000 of them have recently participated in voting. The party leadership is expecting the majority to vote in favor of the new government. But the unrest remains great, not least among the coalition partners in the Democratic Party, where the board decides on the coalition. The Social Democrats are bothered by the coexistence of direct and representative democracy, it does not suit them how "Rousseau" interrupts the institutional processes of government formation. They could not prevent the process.

Meanwhile, members of the M5S cheerfully discuss the pros and cons of a new coalition on the platform. One should "not hand over Italy to Salvini and Berlusconi," one of them wrote: "We are the most beautiful country in the world, but our politicians are circus clowns."