UPDATE - Italy’s Senate speaker election shows cracks within right coalition

UPDATES WITH ELECTION OF SENATE SPEAKER, ADDS MORE DETAILS

By Giada Zampano

ROME (AA) - The new Italian parliament that emerged from last month’s national elections met for the first time Thursday to elect the speakers of the two chambers, a process that showed early divisions within the winning right-wing coalition, risking to further complicate the formation of a new Cabinet.

The Senate was the first chamber to elect its new president, choosing Ignazio La Russa, an old-time ally of premier-to-be Giorgia Meloni and among the founders of her post-fascist Brothers of Italy party.

La Russa was elected with 116 votes in favor, despite the defection of the center-right allies of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and thanks to the support of at least 17 senators from the left-wing opposition.

The name of La Russa was agreed overnight after frantic negotiations among the center-right parties of the coalition, which won the September elections with a solid majority, but remains highly litigious, making Meloni’s mediating role increasingly difficult.

Her two allies, the League of Matteo Salvini and Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, are both pushing to keep a key role in the future government – the most conservative since World War II.

Former Prime Minister Berlusconi – who returned to the Senate after nine years on Thursday after being banned from public office over a tax fraud conviction – appeared particularly disappointed by the outcome of the vote and will certainly make that count in future negotiations.

The first Senate session on Thursday was presided over by Holocaust survivor and senator-for-life Liliana Segre, who used strong and clear words to remind lawmakers of the democratic values embodied by the Italian Constitution and the untouchable role of institutions, in a call for unity that was equally directed to the new right-wing majority and the left-wing opposition.

Segre recalled the 100th anniversary of the fascist March on Rome – which falls on Oct. 28 – and the dark times when she – as a Jewish girl – was obliged to leave her school bench due to the racial laws approved by the fascist government.

“It’s impossible for me not to feel a sort of vertigo today,” Segre said, stressing the “symbolic value” of her presence on the highest bench of the Senate on the first day of new legislation that will be dominated by far-right parties.

Her long speech was interrupted several times by the senators’ applauses, including those from the Brothers of Italy party.

- Big challenges ahead

The election of the speaker in the Lower House appeared trickier, with the frontrunner – the League’s lawmaker Riccardo Molinari – still uncertain and likely requiring a few rounds of votes before being elected on Friday.

Despite the troubled negotiations on the speakers’ names and the future ministers, Meloni – who is poised to be appointed as the first female premier in Italy – has ensured that she will be quick in presenting her ministerial list, immediately after receiving the mandate from Italian President Sergio Mattarella.

Meloni will then be facing an extremely challenging task. The first duty of her new government will be to approve the 2023 budget law, amid risks of a prolonged recession for the Italian economy and record-high energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine that are hitting Italian families and businesses hard.

Once both the chambers’ speakers are elected and parliamentary groups are formed, on Oct. 19-20 President Mattarella is expected to start the formal consultations with the parties to form the new government.

Meloni should receive a preliminary mandate as premier a few days later, and will have to agree on ministerial appointments with her coalition partners before submitting the final list of ministers to Mattarella.

The process is expected to end by Oct. 27-28 with the required confidence votes in both chambers, after which the new government will be able to take office.