Paolo Becchi reveals Matteo Salvini's plan: motion for the government crisis with the help of part of the M5s

The prime minister went to the European Council in June and – disregarding the parliamentary resolution that bound him not to sign pejorative changes to the Mes – made the exact opposite. And so far, if he could not or would not oppose it, according to our laws he could also do it. What the Prime Minister had to do, however, was to report "promptly" to the Chambers – as expressly provided for by art. 5 of law n.234 / 2012 -, and to inform the Parliament of what he had done and that is of not having followed the indications of the Parliament. And instead in June, in the odor of crisis, he gave his approval at European level to the Mes reform, accrediting himself in that environment, with the aim of remaining at Palazzo Chigi also with the next, and current, government. And Parliament has only recently become aware of what happened in June. It is quite clear that Conte violated a state law with his behavior. Now Parliament is in a position to be unable to change anything, but only to ratify or reject the Treaty. The start of the ratification procedure, initially scheduled for December, will most likely be postponed to February, after the regional elections in Emilia-Romagna and Calabria. In this way the government parties try to throw water on the fire.

What must the opposition do now? Salvini talks about a statement to be presented to the Public Prosecutor We were among the first, from the pages of Libero, to configure the hypothesis of a crime pursuant to art. 264 of the Criminal Code (Infidelity in State Affairs). The judiciary could certainly open a file, but would close it a few months later with nothing. But let's face it, the question is above all political and must be addressed politically.

TIMELINE
Conte will report in Parliament on the whole affair Mes Monday 2 December, anticipating the hearing with respect to the initial date of 10. After the communications from the President of the Council, which will surely unload the blame on the others, Salvini already the next day, in our opinion, the next day should present in the Senate (where the numbers are dancers) a motion of no confidence pursuant to the last paragraph of the art. 94 of the Constitution: "The motion of no confidence must be signed by at least one tenth of the members of the Chamber and cannot be questioned before three days after its presentation". A prime minister who violates state laws must be discouraged.

At that point the vote on the same would not take place before December 10-11, given the weekend of religious holidays. The right time to send Conte and his government home without compromising the approval of the budget law by December 31st. Let's see why.

In the Senate, the Conte bis holds on 169 votes, eight more than the security threshold (161). Many of the M5S are embarrassed by Conte's behavior and would not like to find themselves in the conditions, in February, to vote for the ratification of the Mes and betray all the values ​​of the MoVement. So what better opportunity to give a dozen senatorial senators the pretext of pulling the plug on the government and presenting themselves to the voters as the saviors of national interest? Salvini should focus on this. Node budget law.

To avoid the provisional exercise, the financial must be approved by 31 December. The resignation of the prime minister causes the fall of the government and paralyzes parliamentary activity. But be careful. In the case in question, no one would prevent the committees and the parliamentary classrooms from working to reach the approval of the law by the end of the year, also because – faced with the consultations of the parliamentary groups at the Quirinale – Mattarella could ask Conte to remain in office for ordinary administration up to the approval of the budget by the Parliament. At that point parliamentary activity would resume smoothly and the destiny of Chambers and Government would be decided with new quirinal announcements starting from the end of the year.

PREVIOUS ONE
We have a precedent. On 7 December 2012, with the Legislature that would have seen its natural expiration in March 2013, the political secretary of the PDL Angelino Alfano declared the political experience of the technical government terminated. Mario Monti took note of this and went to the Quirinale. Napolitano asked him to remain in office to allow the approval of the financial, providing for the dissolution of the Chambers with D.P.R. of 22 December 2012 but with entry into force on 8 January 2013 (it was still an early dissolution). The budget law was definitively approved by the Senate in the session of December 20, therefore in full crisis of government (even if technically resigned only from December 21st).

Salvini therefore present a motion of no confidence in the Senate on Tuesday and works on the side of 10-15 senators to send Conte home that has done enough damage.

by Paolo Becchi and Giuseppe Palma