“The Italian elections leave Parliament hanging”. This is what most of the foreign media headlined after the Italian vote: rather than expressing an opinion or proclaiming a winner (which, in terms of distribution of seats, does not actually exist), international newspapers have rather focused on uncertainty, moreover widely announced by an electoral law that would hardly have guaranteed anyone an absolute majority.
Above all, the French and Spanish newspapers choose this line, which highlight the news at the opening of their sites: "The radical forces are growing in Italy, in a scenario without a clear majority", headlines El Pais. "Populism against populism: the protest vote leads Italy to ungovernability", headlines El Mundo. “No clear majority in Italy, according to initial results,” cautiously headlines the French Le Figaro, choosing a photo of Berlusconi. Instead, Le Monde makes this choice: "Legislative elections in Italy: no majority emerges, the anti-European parties get full votes".
The New York Times is also betting on the defeat of Europeanism, which gives little space to the Italian vote but chooses the key to interpreting the future of Europe: "In Italy it will be a government that will invest significantly less in the project of a united Europe" , with photos of Salvini. "Hung Parliament" opens the CNN which celebrates the defeat of the establishment and title: "Populist surge in Italy as voters back anti-immigrant, anti-establishment parties”, also in this case choosing the photo of Beppe Grillo. "It will take weeks to form a government", recalls the US newspaper, returning to the theme of uncertainty.
"The Italian elections are another blow to the European establishment", instead writes the Washington Post, which analyzes as follows: "The once marginal populist parties obtained almost half of the votes, and a stable government is not in sight on the horizon. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is warned: there is potential political chaos”.
Even on the British front, returning from the experience of Brexit, the European theme is particularly felt, even if in general both in English and German newspapers the news is placed in the background, behind the night of the Oscars. “Victory for Eurosceptic, populist parties shocks the establishment”, headlines the Telegraph in the second line, choosing a photo of Matteo Salvini. The German Frankfurter Allgemeine goes more specifically, which also opens with the Oscars and then headlines with a dry: “The 5 Star Movement triumphs in Italy”, with photos by Beppe Grillo and Luigi di Maio.
“Italian voters are abandoning the center and riding a populist wave”, writes the British The Guardian. “Elections in Italy: great successes for populist and far-right parties, but no clear winner”, is instead the headline of the newspaper The Independent, according to which the absence of a government majority will require “weeks of talks to form the new executive”. In short, what seems to worry the foreign press the most, and probably also the financial markets, is the ungovernability.
thank you all !!