Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi yesterday prepared to hand in his resignation after suffering a ruinous referendum defeat cheered by populist leaders, but sparking fresh jitters in Europe.
“My experience of government finishes here,” a downcast Renzi said after acknowledging a nearly 60 to 40 percent defeat over his constitutional reform bid, which threw the future of one of the eurozone’s biggest economies into turmoil.
Renzi, 41, was later yesterday to meet Italian President Sergio Mattarella to formally hand in his resignation after a final Cabinet meeting.
Mattarella would then be charged with brokering the appointment of a new government or, if he is unable to do that, ordering early elections.
Populists in Italy and throughout Europe rejoiced at Renzi’s downfall, with anti-establishment Five Star movement founder Beppe Grillo calling for an election “within a week.”
Grillo said a snap election should be held on the basis of a recently adopted electoral law designed to ensure the leading party has a parliamentary majority — a position the populist movement could find itself in at the next election.
“The people have won,” Matteo Salvini, head of the Italian anti-immigrant Northern League party, said on Twitter, with Marine Le Pen of France’s far-right National Front sending him and the Italian people “congratulations on this beautiful victory.”
British euroskeptic Nigel Farage, who spearheaded the Brexit campaign, said the vote looked “more about the euro than constitutional change.”
Most analysts see immediate elections as unlikely, because the failure of the constitutional changes has thrown a wrench in a recent electoral reform, making a parliamentary majority almost impossible.
The most probable scenario is a caretaker administration dominated by Renzi’s Democratic Party taking over until an election due to take place by the spring of 2018.
Italian Minister of Economy and Finances Pier Carlo Padoan is the favorite to succeed Renzi as prime minister, while the outgoing leader might stay on as head of his party — which would leave him well-placed for a potential comeback to frontline politics at the next election.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)