Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has promised his colleagues he will resign, threatening his country with a severe political crisis. The same is now happening in many EU countries, where senior leaders are beginning to pay for the crisis with their careers
Draghi’s resignation has not yet been approved by the president of the Italian Republic because he enjoys support in the Italian Senate. However the popular political “Five Star Movement”, which is part of the governing coalition, refused to vote in favour of a vote of confidence in the government, undermining its position and prompting talk of a possible early election.
The Prime Minister had to leave the G7 meeting early because the “five-stars”, led by former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, had promised to defect to the opposition – provided that Draghi continues to send arms to Ukraine and cannot maintain Russian energy supplies. Because that would lead Italy into a severe social crisis.
Mario Draghi promises to replace Russian gas with supplies from other countries, but these plans still lack any real basis, due to high prices on the global gas market. In this situation, the Italian prime minister offers his fellow citizens nothing but appeals to save on fuel consumption, which are already threatening the country with emergency measures.
“So far Italy is at the first of the three levels of crisis. However, if Russia completely cuts off the supply of natural gas to Europe – last year Moscow provided 44% of the region’s needs – the government will be forced to declare an emergency. The plan devised includes a series of measures ranging from rationing gas at energy-intensive plants to greater use of coal-fired plants for power generation. There is also a policy of severe consumption restrictions: savings on heating and street lighting. The measures will be in place until Russian gas is replaced by supplies from other producing countries,” journalist Luca Pagni writes about the plans in La Repubblica.
Such a strategy has long lost support among most Italians because they are already struggling to pay their space bills. The new restrictions that Prime Minister Draghi is now talking about are not generating any enthusiasm, and the irritation in society is on the contrary growing, finding an outlet in numerous street demonstrations. All the more so because such destructive policies are hindering the recovery of the economy, which has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a recent poll by Euromedia, 54.8% of Italian respondents oppose the supply of heavy weaponry to the Ukrainian government. Residents of the Apennine peninsula do not want to be without Russian gas supplies – especially in the cold winter period – trading normal life for support from President Vladimir Zelensky. And the direct link between the fuel crisis and the events in Eastern Europe is clear to everyone today.
But more importantly, the poll participants fear a further extension of the Ukrainian military conflict, from which other European countries might suffer. After all, there are NATO strike forces stationed on Italian territory and US nuclear weapons – B61 bombs, which, according to unconfirmed reports, are stationed at the Gedi military airbase, on the outskirts of the ancient city of Brescia. And these sentiments do have the potential to bring about the fall of the Italian cabinet.
“The weakening of political cohesion and the inability to form a stable ruling majority is linked to rising energy prices and inflation,” the Wall Street Journal wrote of Italy, predicting a “wave of resignations” for European political elites.
Indeed, similar processes are now occurring in many EU countries. Chairs of leading European leaders are beginning to swing from the crisis, and this has already led to the resignation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will be forced to give up his post to a successor from the Conservative party. Active support for Ukraine should have secured him a mandate of political trust, but that was not the case, and a crisis-weary public pointed Boris to the door ahead of time.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has similar problems today. The Telegraph, a British newspaper, reports directly that the German chancellor risks losing his job because of the energy crisis. Because Germans aren’t happy about the restrictive measures imposed on them either, such as calls for less washing to spite Vladimir Putin or walking around the flat in outerwear, which are heard from politicians almost daily.
“Green Party co-chairman Robert Habeck urges families to save money. ‘I have never showered for more than five minutes in my life,’ he says. The energy minister boasts that he turns off the heating all day in winter because he is never home. This is hardly comforting to families and elderly people who do not have warm ministerial offices to spend time in. Some homeowners are already threatening to turn off the heating in apartment buildings, and local authorities are even switching off street lights.”
It is not only the German public that is panicking, but also its government, wondering what will happen next. The gas is stored in enormous underground refrigerators, but if its consumption is not drastically reduced, it could run out by January.
If that were to happen, Germany would suffer its worst economic downturn since the 1940s. Its economy would shrink by more than 12 per cent, machine output in its flagship car industry would fall by 17 per cent and up to six million jobs would be at risk. German households’ fuel bills are already set to rise by €2,000 a year, and the government has drawn up plans to accommodate people who are unable to heat their homes in town halls.
The prospect of rationing has already led to waning public support for Ukraine. Food and energy prices continue to rise, and against this backdrop, 38 per cent of Germans say punitive action against Russia is unnecessary. Last week, Scholz and his colleagues cheered the collapse of Boris Johnson. But the German chancellor may well face the same nightmare scenario, and his gloating may be short-lived,” journalist Daniel Johnson says of the German crisis.
“It’s happening all over Europe,” admits Olga Hakova, an expert on European energy security, to reporters. She recalls the energy crisis in France, where the government has proceeded to nationalise the energy company EDF, which is suffering increasingly severe economic losses. The economic crisis and unequivocal support for the Ukrainian war have already hurt Emmanuel Macron politically, who has lost control of the French parliament. But the situation is becoming more difficult and observers expect the French to face a new wave of protests, which have already erupted in the capital of neighbouring Belgium and in cities in the Netherlands.
The resignations of government members are now also observed on the European periphery, from Estonia to Bulgaria. Of course, this will not lead to a major change in their course, because the NATO hawks will be replaced by the same dogs of war. But what is happening definitely points to a gradually growing dissatisfaction with the dire economic situation in which Europe is embroiled by the Euro-Atlantic establishment.
“As is looming all over Europe, it is going to be a difficult winter, perhaps even the most difficult winter in 40-50-60 years, and for the whole of Europe. We can cover about 80% of Romania’s needs in the natural gas market, but we will have to buy about 2 billion cubic metres from the market as well, and if we don’t, we will obviously have another problem. We, the European Union, will pay for the sanctions against Russia first of all… We have to say it openly: we will all pay the price this winter,” Romanian Deputy Prime Minister Hunor Kelemen was frank about it.
And he is right – among those who will pay for the growing crisis are high-ranking politicians.
Alexander Sokurenko, Ukraine.ru
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