Italy’s Political Crisis Stirs Calls for 2 Kinds of Cures

An Italian political system brittle with age and weakened by fragmentation is in crisis again, demanding by its latest collapse both a quick fix and a long-term cure.

Back-room negotiations are again under way, this time to name a successor to the besieged Giovanni Goria, who threw in the towel this week after 196 days as Italy’s 47th prime minister since World War II.

President Francesco Cossiga is consulting with a diverse array of political leaders in search of a replacement for Goria. Talks through the weekend may produce a probable successor to Goria--perhaps Goria himself--by early next week.

Operating Without Budget

The need is pressing. The Italian government, which is operating without a 1988 budget, desperately needs quick parliamentary approval of appropriations bills that Goria was unable to secure.

Judging from the chorus of public outrage, Italy also needs an overhaul of the system that is responsible for the exit of yet another revolving-door prime minister.

“This crisis has started in the worst possible way in the worst possible moment,” said Bettino Craxi, former prime minister and Socialist Party leader.

Goria, a 44-year-old technocrat who became a compromise prime minister last July after Craxi was forced from office, had resigned in November in a spat with a junior member of his five-party coalition. He returned to power after a few days with the same government.

This time, he was knocked from the saddle, not by outside opponents, but by ambushers within his own Christian Democratic Party.

In seeking passage of budget items in a frustrating three months of debate, Goria lost 17 votes by secret ballot in parliamentary chambers, where his coalition holds overwhelming majorities. Six times, Goria had to resort to votes of confidence, which are held publicly and demand party discipline, to win approval of parts of the bill.

In the secret voting, Christian Democratic legislators bolted as part of an internal feud in advance of a party congress scheduled for the spring. Left-wing elements of the party, which has been the largest partner in government since World War II, are seeking to wrest control from Ciriaco de Mita, the Christian Democratic leader who wants a fourth term. Goria is a De Mita protege.

Denouncing Parliament’s “lack of responsibility,” Goria left office complaining about the secret ballots, noting that Italy has the only Parliament in Europe that allows them. Goria remains as caretaker prime minister until a successor selected by Cossiga is able to cobble together a new coalition.

Longstanding calls for abolition of the secret votes have intensified with the new crisis. Also intensified are demands from virtually all the largest political parties for a broader reform that would permit more stable government by reducing the number of political parties in Parliament.

At present, 14 political parties and movements are represented in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, but only four of them won more than 5% of the vote in national elections last year.

Party Logjam

Each of the big parties has a different formula for resolving the party logjam, which was created by a postwar fear of fascism. However, there is no consensus beyond the violent hostility of the smaller parties to signing their own death warrants.

Cossiga has thus far kept his counsel, but there were indications Friday that as a short-term solution, he might ask Goria to return at least long enough to see the budget bill passed with the belated support of his supposedly chastened fellow Christian Democrats.

But analysts lament that even if such a maneuver were to produce a budget, another round of Goria as a prime minister without a mandate would contribute nothing to solving the structural flaws in Italy’s political system.