How Rome's mayoral crisis could hurt Five Star's national chances

How Rome's mayoral crisis could hurt Five Star's national chances

Virginia Raggi’s victory aimed to show M5S was more than just a protest party, but her chaotic tenure is having ripple effects across Italy

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome

Tuesday 20 September 2016 07.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/20/rome-mayoral-crisis-could-hurt-five-stars-national-chances-italy-virginia-raggi

When Virginia Raggi gave her victory speech on the night she was elected mayor of Rome, she conceded that fulfilling her promise to make the city “liveable” again would not be easy.

“The more difficult it is, the more beautiful it will be to succeed in all that we have resolved to do,” the Five Star Movement (M5S) candidate told the crowd in June.

But the 38-year-old lawyer, the first female mayor of the Eternal City, could not have imagined how short her political honeymoon would be. Less than three months into her tenure, Raggi has faced the resignations of four top officials, an ongoing scandal about the sanitation chief she chose to clean up the city, and accusations of being a hapless tool of party leaders.

The ensuing chaos is having ripple effects across the Italian political establishment and could even affect a critical referendum this autumn, the outcome of which will determine the future of the prime minister, Matteo Renzi.

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The turn of events has not surprised veteran watchers of Rome’s notoriously tumultuous politics.

“The only surprising thing is that it has happened so soon,” said Giovanni Orsina, a professor of contemporary history at LUISS University in Rome. “It is an extremely difficult situation. The city is on its knees. The public services don’t work – notably rubbish collection and public transport – and the lobbies of those services are so strong that it would take a very powerful political force to fix them, which she is not.”

When Raggi was elected, it was seen as a breakthrough for the anti-establishment M5S, a Eurosceptic political party created by the satirist Beppe Grillo in 2009 that espouses direct democracy and transparency. The Cinque Stelle, as it is known in Italy, has become the country’s second most popular party thanks to a knack for tapping into Italians’ anger over the status quo.

Grillo, an admirer of Ukip’s Nigel Farage, routinely rails against everything, from corruption to establishment politicians’ cosy ties with big business, and M5S politicians often portray themselves as above reproach because of the party’s tough internal anti-corruption rules.

The Raggi victory was significant because it was seen as a test of whether the M5S could move beyond its role as a protest party and actually govern.

So far, the verdict seems to be “no” and the political ruptures have fanned fears that a planned investment in the public transport system could be delayed because Raggi does not have a budget chief in place. Romans are also still awaiting a final verdict on whether Raggi will support Rome’s bid for the 2024 Olympics, which she said she opposed during the campaign. Given the M5S’s stated commitment to public transport and its opposition to big, unwieldy projects, both issues are significant.

The big question now is whether or not Raggi’s problems in Rome will diminish the reputation of the M5S nationally, with just weeks to go before the referendum on constitutional reform. Renzi says the reforms will make it easier to pass legislation by dramatically restricting the powers of the senate, a major source of political gridlock. He has vowed to resign if he loses the referendum, which in turn could force Italy’s president to dissolve the current parliament and call a new election.

With Italy’s right in disarray, the biggest threat to Renzi’s Democratic party is the M5S. For months, the party has been trying to portray itself as a viable alternative to Renzi, but Raggi’s travails could lead Italians to wonder whether it is ready to lead the country.

“They don’t even have anyone in charge of finance in Rome. Yet they want to be in charge of a country with €2.5tn (£2.1tn) in debt? There is a huge issue of credibility at stake,” said Wolfango Piccoli, the co-president of Teneo Intelligence in London.

Raggi’s problems started early on, when she decided to appoint officials who served under Gianni Alemanno, a previous mayor and a rightwinger. This angered left-leaning supporters, confirming their suspicion that Raggi – who has portrayed herself as non-ideological – had ties to Rome’s right. When it emerged that her chief of staff would be earning about €200,000 (£170,000) – a figure far exceeding recommendations for the role – she was forced to sack the official, prompting several other high-profile resignations.

The most controversial decision has centred on her choice of person to clean up the city, Paola Muraro, who had previously been paid hundreds of thousands of euros as a consultant for the city’s rubbish collection agency. Raggi learned in July that prosecutors were examining Muraro’s record, but she has nevertheless stood by her appointment, and Muraro has denied all allegations of impropriety.

The controversy has ensnared another M5S politician, Luigi Di Maio, who was alerted about the Muraro investigation by Raggi but never acted on it, contrary to the spirit of internal M5S rules. The 30-year-old vic- president of parliament, a wunderkind of the M5S, had been considered a possible rival to Renzi.

Now Raggi is fighting back. In a Facebook post this month, she defended Muraro and made a defiant declaration.

“Not a day has passed without attacks, polemic and accusations. I have broad shoulders. It is not a problem for me,” she said.

Raggi’s defenders say the mayor still has some powerful political allies: Romans themselves. While Raggi has been the focus of negative headlines almost every day, Romans seem willing to give her more time, said Francesco Galietti, the founder of Policy Sonar in Rome.

M5S’s attempt to use municipal elections to prove its credentials has, however, undoubtedly taken a hit, much to the delight of Renzi. But the prime minister is not out of the woods yet, and Raggi can still turn things around.

“Romans are very angry at the previous administrations and they are very patient. They are ready to wait for a few months, so if they can start solving some problems of the city and if she does it, all this will be forgotten,” Orsina said. “But how can she do that if she doesn’t have a viable group of people around her? I wouldn’t bet on that but it is possible.”