by Eric J. Lyman
ROME, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Since the start, the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement and the nationalist League -- the two parties supporting the government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte -- were unlikely partners, analysts said. As they pursued talks to form a government, there was a great deal of speculation about which party's agenda would take center stage, they said.
Three weeks after the June 1 installation of the government, analysts told Xinhua that it seems clear the League's priorities were the ones at center stage.
Conte, the prime minister, is not a member of either party. Five-Start Movement head Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini from the League are both deputy prime ministers in addition to their own ministerial portfolios.
Among the League's most high-profile policies so far: tightening rules on migrants and turning away refugee rescue ships, promising to conduct a census of the country's population of nomadic Romas, and clashing over autonomy with the European Union.
"There are two big advantages helping Salvini," Ferdinando Nelli Feroci, a former diplomat who is now president of Italy's Institute For Foreign Affairs, told Xinhua. "First, he is more strategic. And second, his agenda doesn't cost as much money. The Five-Star Movement's idea of establishing a basic minimum income for all Italians is unaffordable right now. But it doesn't cost money to turn away a ship of refugees."
At the start, it seemed that the Five-Star Movement would have the upper hand in the new government. The party earned nearly twice as many votes (32.7 percent to 17.4 percent) as the League in Italy's March 4 general election. During post-election talks, it also forced the League to end its alliance with Forza Italia, the party headed by Silvio Berlusconi, a billionaire media mogul and former prime minister.
But since the new government was installed on June 1, tables have turned. Opinion shows that while support for the Five-Star Movement has eroded slightly since March, public backing for the League has surged to the point that it is now the largest party in Italy. Salvini has also shown an ability to stay in the public eye, and has little aversion to clashing with leaders of other countries or the European Union.
"Salvini will determine how things go in Italy, more than Di Maio, more than Conte," Nelli Feroci said. "Salvini is setting the agenda for Italy now, and Conte is in the difficult role of trying to balance different interests and make things work."
Giovanni Orsina, a political historian with Rome's LUISS University, said Conte's low-key status and his lack of political experience are working against him.
"There is a relative void in the prime minister's office," Orsina said in an interview. "That makes it natural for other figures to have higher visibility. Salvini understands that and he is making it work for him."
Gian Franco Gallo, a political affairs analyst, agreed: "The refugee crisis is the central issue in Europe right now, maybe in the world, and that falls under the portfolio of the Ministry of the Interior in Italy," Gallo said, referring to Salvini's ministerial position in the government.
