Italy 2013: The official thread

[Obamanation]

Grillo, being a real attention whore, decided to wait until today to vote so all of the coverage seems to be about him in the final hours.

Well, he ain't stupid then...

[Keystone Phil]

It's been fun around here! Ciao. 

[Tender Branson]

Yes. Time to lock it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Complain about the victory of trolls and clowns here; discuss results (as results) in 'tuther thread.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Thanks!

[Keystone Phil]

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Poor Monti. He deserves to the be the face of the Italian center-right, not a washed-up perverted old huckster like Berlusconi.

I couldn't disagree more. Being a washed-up old huckster like Berlusconi is exactly what Monti deserves.

One could argue that being the face of the Italian center-right at least halfway accomplishes that in and of itself.

Keep in mind that the face that the Italian center-right deserves to have right now is Berlusconi or someone like him.

[Leftbehind]

Complain about the victory of trolls and clowns here

[Antonio the Sixth]

BTW, I don't know if this has been mentioned, but the day after the election, Berlusconi was indicted in yet another case. A former IdV senator claims that back in 2006 he was bribed by Berlusconi (something like €3 millions) to switch sides and bring down the Prodi government, which only had a 2-seat majority in the Senate. Apparently other Senators were part of the conspiracy which Berlusconi nicknamed "operazione libertà".

[RogueBeaver]

Already discussed at length, though we didn't hear about the other senators.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well, anyway, this is something to watch, along with other trials which will reach sentences very soon. I'd be interested to see if there's a chance we can come up with a definitive sentence before the statute of limitation pops up.

[Keystone Phil]

We discussed it in the other thread along with the accusation from 2006 when the then-Senator (and soon returning) for North and Central America claimed Berlusconi approached him about switching from PD to PdL. Not sure that it ever went any further than an accusation though.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Today Bersani's line was unanimously approved by the PD direction. Officially only though, behind the scenes many are groaning.

[Keystone Phil]

Silvio sentenced to a year behind bars?

[RogueBeaver]

It'll get tied up in appeals like everything else.

[Rocky Rockefeller]

I think even if Bersani convinces M5S to allow him to work with him, they will prove very difficult to work with in the long run.

[RogueBeaver]

Renzi: We're hitting the trail again very shortly. Said another primary was inevitable but didn't say whether he'd run or not. Yeah, Bersani's leadership countdown has definitely begun.

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=199254

[Keystone Phil]

[Antonio the Sixth]

Renzi: We're hitting the trail again very shortly.

Hopefully... If an alliance with M5S can't be worked out, we absolutely need new elections.

[You kip if you want to...]

Greece, all over again.

[RogueBeaver]

The Renzi push continues. Dunno why Bersani got such a resounding endorsement at leadership review given how epically failed his campaign was.

http://fr.reuters.com/article/frEuroRpt/idFRL6N0C08VJ20130308?sp=true

[Antonio the Sixth]

The Renzi push continues. Dunno why Bersani got such a resounding endorsement at leadership review given how epically failed his campaign was.

http://fr.reuters.com/article/frEuroRpt/idFRL6N0C08VJ20130308?sp=true

People are ready to give him a shot at forming the government, since it's almost certain he will fail.

The question is, what happens after? This is when power struggles between the old guard and Renzi supporters.

[RogueBeaver]

My question is what happens during the limbo between Bersani's failure and the presidential vote. Does Monti stay in office, another technocrat appointed for a few weeks? Then the new president dissolves parliament. Another question: if there were to be a PD leadership switch, when and how would that happen?

[Antonio the Sixth]

My question is what happens during the limbo between Bersani's failure and the presidential vote. Does Monti stay in office, another technocrat appointed for a few weeks? Then the new president dissolves parliament. Another question: if there were to be a PD leadership switch, when and how would that happen?

Monti would stay in office as long as no other PM wins a confidence vote. So yeah, he could stay on as a caretaker for months if new elections end up being held.

As for the PD, I don't know their bylaws well enough to say, but I guess they should do new primaries.

[Keystone Phil]

If I had to guess (emphasis on "guess"), I'd say Monti stays around if he's legally able to. What's the point of another technocratic government that would be around for such a short period of time?

As you know, Renzi said he expects another leadership primary so I guess the only questions are around logistics and who, if anyone serious, would challenge Renzi.