RUSSO, L., SEDDONE, A., & SANDRI, G. (2021). Italy: Political Data and Developments in 2020. European Journal Of Political Research Political Data Yearbook.
In Italy, 2020 was marked by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected the country earlier and harder than the rest of the world. The Cabinet in office was the second Cabinet formed under the leadership of Giuseppe Conte (Conte II). This government had been in charge since September 2019, after the League/Lega (Lega) had toppled the previous Cabinet (Conte I). The new Cabinet involved the Five Star Movement/Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S), Free and Equal/Liberi e Uguali (LeU), Italy Alive/Italia Viva (IV), and the Democratic Party/Partito Democratico (PD). Despite a relatively ample majority, this Cabinet was challenged by both the external pressure of the opposition (led by the League) and continuing intra-coalition disputes, raised in particular by IV. This ultimately led to the collapse of Conte II in January 2021.
The other two major events of 2020 were a constitutional referendum that reduced the size of the Italian Parliament, and the regional elections. The main issues dominating the political agenda were the Covid-19 emergency and the consequent policy issues aimed to manage the health crisis, Italy’s economic crisis measures, the European recovery package (Next Generation EU), the European Union’s (EU) response to the pandemic crisis and vaccine procurement.
Cite this article
RUSSO, L., SEDDONE, A., & SANDRI, G. (2021). Italy: Political Data and Developments in 2020. European Journal Of Political Research Political Data Yearbook. doi: 10.1111/2047-8852.12340
