On ailing parties – Angela Giuffrida in The Guardian:

‘Conte has been threatening to pull M5S, which has lost half its support since emerging as the biggest party in Italy in the 2018 general elections, from Draghi’s broad coalition for weeks.
“Today was the first episode, and it seems the saga will have its climax next week,” said Francesco Galietti, the founder of Policy Sonar, a consultancy in Rome. “Draghi managed to get the controversial bill passed, but the problem is that M5S abstained. So he has gone to Mattarella, probably to offer his resignation. In any case, there’ll probably be a confidence vote [on a new Draghi mandate] next week, and we need to see if M5S will support that.” M5S has struggled to revive its fortunes under Conte’s leadership. The party has lost dozens of parliamentarians, and its former leader Luigi Di Maio, the current foreign minister, split from the group last month, taking more with him.
Analysts say the latest move was mostly owing to the turmoil within the ailing party rather than motivated by any meaningful policy differences with Draghi’s administration.
Draghi was appointed to head a unity government in February 2021, with his main goal to lead Italy out of the coronavirus pandemic and revive its economy.
A government collapse could prompt early elections, possibly in the autumn.’

Read the article here.

No differences, just ailing parties, attempts to revive the fortunes of such a party or movement that had not much to offer to the people in the first place. Well, just go watch ‘Il Divo’ once again.

That’s Italy, people used to say.

Now we all have become Italy.