A police officer rides a motorcycle down a street in Rome. File photoROME, Jun 19The socio-political 5 Star Movement (D5Z), which is part of the Italian government coalition, was on the verge of a split due to a heated discussion on the supply of weapons to Ukraine, which is fraught with the possibility of a government crisis. Many prominent figures of the D5Z came to this conclusion after how excerpts from the draft resolution of the Senate of the Republic on the conflict in Ukraine, prepared by the «five-stars», appeared in the media over the weekend. In this document, the government is requested, in particular, «not to continue further deliveries of weapons that would seriously jeopardize the de-escalation of the conflict.»Time is running out for EuropeVote on this resolution should take place on Tuesday, June 21, after Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi delivers a speech in Parliament on Ukraine policy ahead of the EU summit in Brussels. Back in May, D5Z leader, former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, proposed holding a parliamentary vote in this regard, emphasizing the need to refuse new arms supplies to Kyiv and concentrate efforts on finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Conte's position caused a clear rejection from the former political head of D5Z, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who firmly upholds the line of Atlantic solidarity on the situation in Ukraine. «If we retreat from the NATO line, we will jeopardize the security of Italy. We cannot afford it,» the Foreign Minister said after the publication of the draft Senate resolution prepared by members of the same party. In addition, Di Maio took the liberty of criticizing Conte, pointing out that under his leadership, the D5Z «is in danger of becoming a party of hatred.»WSJ: Putin hit the most vulnerable spot of European leadersThese statements by Di Maio provoked a strong reaction from the current leadership of D5Z. «We are at the point of no return: Di Maio has planned his exit from the Movement,» D5Z Vice President Michele Gubitosa told La Stampa newspaper on Sunday. According to him, «the minister comes up with a lie about the line of his party, and then criticizes the line that he himself invented.» «As vice president of D5Z, I wonder if we can still consider him a minister for the Movement's quota,» he stressed. Another vice president of D5Z, Riccardo Ricciardi, told la Repubblica that «action must be taken» against the head of the Foreign Ministry and recalled in this regard that Di Maio himself, when he was the leader of the Movement, excluded politicians from it for «significantly less serious things.» The presence of a clear split in the D5Z leadership was confirmed on Sunday by Senator Primo Di Nicola, who is considered a close supporter of Di Maio. «Now we have discovered that in fact someone is working on a resolution that could split the majority, possibly lead to the fall of the government and take Italy away from its historic European and Atlantic alliances,» he said.
Eni said that Italy is not ready to turn off Russian gasThe question of the possibility of a government crisis in Italy in connection with the government's policy towards Ukraine arises not for the first time. Back in mid-May, Conte publicly announced that the current ruling majority «exists only on paper.» At the same time, he pointed out that the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, which was initially in opposition to Draghi's cabinet, supports the government's line of providing comprehensive assistance to Ukraine, including through the supply of weapons to Kyiv. At the same time, the Liga party, which is part of the government majority, takes a much more cautious position on this issue, emphasizing that new arms supplies to Ukraine will not contribute to the speedy resolution of the conflict. Nevertheless, most local analysts, despite the obvious split in the D5Z leadership, are inclined to believe that the Draghi government this time will still be able to get the support of the majority of parliamentarians. «The fact is that, barring huge surprises, the government can hardly be defeated in the vote count, also because that in all likelihood, the majority can count on the external support of the «Brothers of Italy» on this issue, the newspaper Il Gazzettino noted in this regard.
