Italy and Spain shake up EU political landscape with new leadership

Read the Full Transcript

• Judy Woodruff:

  The political earthquakes in Europe continue to rumble, this time in Italy and Spain.

  As William Brangham reports, it is a mixed bag, with the rise of both populist and centrist leaders.

• William Brangham:

  Nearly three months of post-election turmoil ended today in Italy, with a quiet swearing-in, as Western Europe's first populist government took power.

  The new premier, Giuseppe Conte, is a little-known law professor and political novice. The real power may lie with his deputies.

• Matteo Salvini:

  (Through interpreter) We say that Italians come first, then the rest of the world.

• William Brangham:

  One of the deputy premiers, Matteo Salvini, heads the anti-immigrant League Party and favors quitting the Eurozone. The other deputy is Luigi Di Maio, who leads the Five Star Party, founded just nine years ago by a former comedian.

  Their election victory was fueled by a sluggish Italian economy, anger at the E.U. over austerity measures and an influx of migrants. Some Italians today said they're wary of the new government's ability to lead.

• Fabrizio Fornicula:

  (Through interpreter) I will give them the benefit of the doubt, but some of the ministers worry me. I think they are a bit embarrassing.

• William Brangham:

  While others expressed optimism at the shakeup.

• Carla Lupini:

  (Through interpreter) I am very happy because I am excited to see them making the attempt. I want to see what happens.

• William Brangham:

  Today's events came after Italy's president, Sergio Mattarella, had vetoed euro-skeptic Paolo Savona to be economic minister earlier this week. That touched off a new crisis, and talk of new elections that shook world financial markets.

  Even with the crisis now past, European Union leaders say they fear the new Italian government could be a disruptive force.

  But, today, they cautiously sent congratulations, including a spokesperson for E.U. President Jean-Claude Juncker.

• Mina Andreeva:

  President Juncker is committed to work with the new Italian government, to tackle the many common challenges that Italy and Europe are facing, from trade to migration and many more.

• William Brangham:

  Meanwhile in Spain, more political upheaval today. Cheers rang out inside Parliament after lawmakers voted to oust conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

  Protesters hurled taunts at the deposed leader, who has been caught up in a wide-reaching corruption scandal. They accused him of running the country like the mafia. Voted in to replace Rajoy, Spain's former opposition leader, 46-year-old socialist Pedro Sanchez.

• Pedro Sanchez:

  (Through interpreter) I will attend the urgent social matters of many people living in precarious conditions and suffering from inequality.

• William Brangham:

  Sanchez's sudden rise is a rare success for a center-left party in recent European politics. But he now leads a minority government that's likely to face challenges to its hold on power.

  We explore these political shifts now with Heather Conley. She studies Europe and European politics for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

  Welcome to the NewsHour.

• Heather Conley:

  Thank you.

• William Brangham:

  So, this election brings two populist parties to power in Italy. Help us understand what — how they got there and what this means.

• Heather Conley:

  Well, this was an election — the last time the Italian people went to the polls was 2011, so this was a pent-up expression of frustration, frustration with economic growth.

  It's been very anemic. Rising migration and just frustration with the elite. So you had the League, previously known as the Northern League, which was a very xenophobic far-right group based in Northern Italy, and the populist Five Star movement, which was more of a Southern Italian-based group that looked more at the center-left and more populist, more fiscally spending for those groups.

  And so these two unlikely parties eventually came together. And now we have a very populist, I would argue very xenophobic, government platform that is going to be quite a handful for the European Union in the days and weeks to come.

• William Brangham:

  Before we get to their concerns about the E.U., let's talk a little bit about this, the migration into Italy. Explain why that's such difficult issue for the Italians.

• Heather Conley:

  Well, I think it's a difficult issue for European countries. It's a difficult issue for the United States.

  I mean, it comes through several ways. Obviously, the instability from the Arab Spring and North Africa, the Sahel, the Middle East, Syria, has caused people to flee their homes, some for economic reasons, some for conflict, environment, climate issues.

  And, unfortunately, being in Southern Europe, whether you're Greece, Italy, even Spain, you are the first port of entry for those migrants seeking safety and a better way of life. Normally, Italy has allowed those migrants once they have arrived in Italy, sort of a close your eyes, let them continue on through Europe.

  But what's happened since the 2015 migration crisis, Europe countries want those migration flows to stop. So they're putting informal borders between Austria and Italy, Italy and France, and now those…

  (CROSSTALK)

• William Brangham:

  So, those migrants land, and they're stuck.

• Heather Conley:

  But they're stuck, yes.

  And they're seeing this rising in urban areas. Many Italians associate more crime and lawlessness with this rising migrant population. And it just builds on the frustration of the economics of migration. It's really becoming an existential challenge for many Europeans that see a shrinking demographic, these incredible winds of change of globalism and social change.

  And now you put a migration challenge, and it's just — it's the straw that broke the camel's back. Now they really — they are really angry. They want to see dramatic change. And the new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, the head of the League, has said that he will expel immediately 500,000 migrants from Italy.

  So we could see some pretty bold action really at the beginning of this new Italian government.

• William Brangham:

  This was also a vote against the E.U. and the rule from Brussels, as the Italians see it.

  What is their concern? And does this make you worried about the larger European Union project as a whole?

• Heather Conley:

  So, I think when things have gone well for the European project, national leaders have excepted that as their success.

  When things haven't been going well, boy, it is so easy to blame this large bureaucratic, very far away, distanced Brussels. There's always someone to blame.

  And that's, I think, where we see this frustration. You can Blame immigrants. You can blame the European Union. You can blame your political leaders. But it's really hard to look at yourself and say, we have got to change. We have to reform. We can't continue to do what we have been doing. It's not working.

  So Brussels has become this in some ways faceless bureaucracy that's so easy to blame. The problem is, it's sort of the glue that binds 28 countries together. Italy has benefited from the European Union certainly greatly, but right now it's just become the point of frustration where everything is wrong because — because of the E.U., which is not necessarily true.

• William Brangham:

  Heather Conley, thank you so much.

• Heather Conley:

  Thank you.

Improved audio player available on our mobile page