The government fell by just one vote on article 1 of the budget statement. An "unprecedented" fact with "obvious political implications", as the Speaker of the Chamber, Gianfranco Fini, immediately observed, suspending the session. In truth, there is a precedent: in 88 a similar incident occurred to the Goria government which immediately went to the Quirinal to resign.
The question at this point is: what happens now? The opposition has no doubts: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi must go to the Quirinale and resign, placing the crisis in the hands of the head of state. The majority first tried to minimize with Minister Gelmini, who spoke of an accident, and with the Prime Minister himself for whom in the end it was a "technical fact". Then, however, at least those who have greater experience of parliamentary life, such as Minister La Russa and the group leader Cicchitto, have indicated another strategy: it will be the prime minister who will have to ask for a vote of confidence from the Chamber as soon as possible before the resumption of the parliamentary activity. Meanwhile, for Cicchitto the examination of the bill on wiretapping must also be suspended.
But is it possible that Berlusconi will ask the Chamber of Deputies for trust without a ride to the Quirinale? Hard to argue that. The Prime Minister - who has convened an immediate summit at Palazzo Grazioli of the PDL - should in any case go to the President of the Republic, if not to resign, at least to represent him the situation that has arisen and evaluate with him whether the path of the request is viable of yet another vote of confidence. But the declarations of Cicchitto and La Russa seem to make it clear that the PDL would gladly avoid that passage through the Quirinale. By a strange coincidence yesterday, President Napolitano was in Montecitorio to attend a debate on a book, just as the situation was deteriorating.
Moreover, the fact that the situation within the majority is on the verge of implosion is demonstrated by the absences from the vote: Tremonti (he was in Montecitorio but was also on a mission and therefore his vote did not create a quorum), Bossi (he had moment), Scajola (he had just returned from a face to face with Berlusconi which he himself defined as "a meeting between old friends") and Antonio Martino. And a certain number of "managers" were also missing, perhaps worried about the shrinking of space for them to satisfy Scajola's predictable requests. What is certain is that in the PDL, after the vote, Tremonti was once again accused. And this time not only because he opposes the amnesty. In short: even if the crisis has not yet been made official, the tensions in the majority do not predict anything good.
