Italy: Parliament in rocky step towards new government

Rome: Italy’s parliament met for the first time Thursday since the far-right won elections last month, a rocky first step in the process of forming a government, with tensions running high.

Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-fascist roots, secured a historic 26 percent of the vote in September 25 polls.

But she can only form a government with her fractious allies, Matteo Salvini, head of the far-right League, and former premier Silvio Berlusconi, founder of right-wing Forza Italia.

The three leaders have been tussling over the formation of a cabinet able to manage the myriad of challenges facing the eurozone’s third-largest economy, notably soaring inflation and an energy crisis linked to the war in Ukraine.

Tempers frayed as members of the Senate and lower house voted for new speakers, who will play a key role in consultations on the creation of the next government.

“We are ready, don’t worry,” Meloni told journalists ahead of the secret ballots, widely seen as a test of the right-wing parties’ ability to cooperate.

But the Stampa daily said the right was in “chaos”, with Salvini and Berlusconi, whose parties secured nine and eight percent of the vote respectively, demanding their picks of key cabinet posts.

A visibly frustrated Berlusconi was seen slamming his desk in anger at his seat in the Senate.

The 86-year-old billionaire media mogul, re-elected nine years after being expelled from the Senate for tax fraud, was eventually persuaded to cast his ballot. The rest of his party, bar one, abstained.