Italy soon governed by anti-system parties?

Not three weeks after Italy's elections there are signs that the strongest parties have agreed on the distribution of key posts. Movimento 5 Stelle is to preside the Chamber of Deputies, while the centre-right alliance led by Lega Nord will chair the Senate. There are also growing indications of a governing coalition between the two camps. For commentators an unholy alliance.

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Corriere della Sera (IT) /

An attack on open society

The open society is at risk, warns political scientist Angelo Panebianco in Corriere della Sera:

“A Cinque Stelle-Lega government would make it clear to everyone that the key political dividing line no longer runs between the left and the right (socialists against conservatives) - as it did in the good old days. ... Today - and not only in Italy - it runs between the forces that defend the open society and those that fight it. As the open society, based on representative democracy and the market economy, is a sign of our allegiance to the Western world, its opponents also oppose this allegiance. Consequently they will distance our country from Europe and the United States so as to bring it closer to Russia step by step. Because closed societies understand each other.”

Avvenire (IT) /

No longer constitutional

Avvenire aks whether the Lega Nord and the Movimento 5 Stelle aren't already tottering on the brink of unconstitutionality:

“The question can't simply be shrugged off with a reference to the parties' major success because history is full of anti-system parties that enjoyed huge popularity. ... Today we must consider 'unconstitutional' any political force that seeks with its programme, its leaders and its communication style to undermine the constitution. A constitution which in turn must be seen in the context of the current stage of European integration and the international context of which Italy is also a part. In other words: a party that seeks to leave the EU and Nato is just as 'anti-system' as a party that wants to reintroduce the monarchy, racial segregation or the one-party state.”