The New York Times, Rome :
President Sergio Mattarella took Italy’s gridlocked politics into his own hands on Monday night.
Two months after inconclusive elections created a political stalemate, Mr. Mattarella asked his country’s bickering political leaders to support a neutral caretaker government of his own choosing. It would last until they got their act together and formed a sustainable parliamentary majority or until new elections, as early as this summer but no later than early next year.
Speaking at the Quirinal Palace on Monday night after a third, and apparently final, round of fruitless consultations with party leaders, the mild-mannered Mr. Mattarella seemed a bit vexed as he called the situation “anomalous” and admonished the politicians for their lack of progress.
“It would be the first time in the history of the republic,” he said, that the Parliament elected by Italians was dissolved before it even went to work and selected a cabinet and prime minister.
Mr. Mattarella, 76, with fluffy white hair and discretion honed during his years as a Christian Democratic politician, is motivated most by a search for stability. A Sicilian, he entered politics after a Mafia gunman in 1980 shot and killed his brother, then the region’s president, at point-blank range.
Mr. Mattarella made clear that Italy, facing critical issues such as the euro and migrant policies in Europe.
President Sergio Mattarella took Italy’s gridlocked politics into his own hands on Monday night.
Two months after inconclusive elections created a political stalemate, Mr. Mattarella asked his country’s bickering political leaders to support a neutral caretaker government of his own choosing. It would last until they got their act together and formed a sustainable parliamentary majority or until new elections, as early as this summer but no later than early next year.
Speaking at the Quirinal Palace on Monday night after a third, and apparently final, round of fruitless consultations with party leaders, the mild-mannered Mr. Mattarella seemed a bit vexed as he called the situation “anomalous” and admonished the politicians for their lack of progress.
“It would be the first time in the history of the republic,” he said, that the Parliament elected by Italians was dissolved before it even went to work and selected a cabinet and prime minister.
Mr. Mattarella, 76, with fluffy white hair and discretion honed during his years as a Christian Democratic politician, is motivated most by a search for stability. A Sicilian, he entered politics after a Mafia gunman in 1980 shot and killed his brother, then the region’s president, at point-blank range.
Mr. Mattarella made clear that Italy, facing critical issues such as the euro and migrant policies in Europe.
