Italy: Foreign Minister leaves party after its refusal to support arms deliveries to Ukraine

Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has left the political party Five Star Movement, accusing the party and its leader, ex-Prime Minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte of undermining the government’s efforts in supporting Ukraine. Earlier, the biggest party in the Italian Parliament faced discord among its members when it came to the matter of arms supply to Ukraine.

“We had to choose which side we are on: on the side of Ukraine, which is being invaded, or on the side of the aggressor, Russia.

Stances on this issue taken by several leaders of the party risked weakening our country. <...> In recent months, the biggest political party in the Parliament was obligated to unequivocally support the government. <...> Today, I am facing a painful choice, one I never imagined I’d have to make. Today, multiplemembers of the Five Star Movement and I are leaving the party, which tomorrow will no longer be the leading political party in the country. We can’t let ourselves make mistakes,” declared Di Maio (as quoted by Corriere della Sera).

The Foreign Minister also accused the current leadership of the Movement of an ambiguous position in regards to foreign policy issues.

The Five Star Movement is currently the biggest party in both the Chamber of Deputies (they hold 217 seats out of 630) and the Senate (106 seats out of 315). Di Maio says that he will form a new parliamentary group that will support the government of the Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Italian media report that around 50-60 deputies are ready to join the new group. Thus, the leading party in the Parliament can lose more than a fourth of its members.

Earlier, Italian media reported that the Five Star Movement is on the verge of a split over the discussion of providing military help to Ukraine.

Back in March, practically all members of the Movement voted for a bill authorising the supply of arms to Ukraine until December. Since then, however, several members have been insisting on the need to help “de-escalate” the conflict, while saying that the de-escalation can be achieved by a halt in the supply of arms. This discussion led to a lot of discord among the members of the Movement, and, respectively, among the parliamentary majority.

The leader of the Five Star Movement, ex-Prime Minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte and his associates proposed to adopt a draft resolution, asking for a commitment from the government to cease all future deliveries of weapons to Ukraine. Later, Di Maio accused the leadership of the party of deviating from the principles of Atlantic solidarity.