ROME – The putative Italian centre-right coalition was evidently unravelling even as Italian President Sergio Mattarella began official consultations to decide to who he will give a mandate to form a government, after Forza Italia's leader Silvio Berlusconi said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was "at fault" for the war in Ukraine. 

 On Wednesday, the presumed future prime minister Giorgia Meloni made clear that she would not tolerate dissidence on the issue among her allies in her response to Berlusconi’s leaked comments:

 “Italy is fully and proudly part of Europe and part of NATO.  Whoever disagrees with this cornerstone will not be part of the government, at the risk of not forming a government.” 

 The audio of Berlusconi, released by news agency LaPresse, recorded the three-time former prime minister blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the war and claiming that the Russian invasion was simply a military operation to replace Zelensky with a government of “good and sensible people”. 

 This strong pro-Russian stance on the issue has torn a rift in the putative coalition between the parties of Giorgia Meloni and Berlusconi. Meloni has long supported Ukraine in the conflict and committed to continue sending arms and aid in September. It remains unclear whether the Brothers of Italy leader will manage to hold a majority without the support of Berlusconi's Forza Italia. 

The Secretary of the opposing Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, condemned Berlusconi, saying that his statements “are very dangerous, incompatible with the position of Italy or of Europe…Meloni’s government is forming under the worst possible ambiguity”.

 Another example of this ambiguity came from the recently elected President of the Chamber of Deputies, Lorenzo Fontana of the League, who criticised sanctions against Russia in a televised speech on Tuesday, stating that they could “boomerang” and harm Italy.   Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party therefore face concerning inconsistency on the Ukraine war within the League and Forza Italia, the two parties that she had planned to join with to form a government.

 Antonio Polito, writing in Corriere della Sera, noted the coalition’s instability, “What is happening in these hours, a kind of government crisis before the government is even formed, certifies that the old centre-right is long dead, and the new one has not been born”.

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