A vote for order and security

The result of the Italian election on Sunday was revolutionary, but not unexpected. The politics of the center-left government, totally subordinated to the EU left, has ruined Italy’s economy and above all created a sense of estrangement from the people. Many Italians feel they have lost sovereignty and control of their homeland, and are calling for a government to restore order and security.
Unregulated mass immigration has created pockets of delinquency to which the police, blocked by the government, could not respond. It has also created a parallel labor market that, combined with competition from the countries of the Far East, has produced worrying unemployment, especially in southern Italy, whose people are forced to emigrate to look for poorly paid work in Germany or England. Thus the electoral result: In the south there was a victory for the Five Star Movement, a populist, anti-establishment group founded by the comedian Beppe Grillo; in the north there was an excellent result for the League, a center-right party whose young leader, Matteo Salvini, is a candidate to lead the entire conservative coalition in place of Silvio Berlusconi, leader of Forza Italia.

Many Italians feel they have lost sovereignty and control of their homeland, leading to an election triumph for populists and Euroskeptics

Max Ferrari

The only coalition government possible at the moment seems a League-Five Star alliance, but that would be be difficult because the ideas of the two parties on issues such as family, abortion, euthanasia and the maintenance of traditions are so different. The only certainty is that the League has won the elections in Lombardy, the “engine room” of Italy, and the new president, Attilio Fontana, an experienced League man, has promised the restoration of order by announcing the expulsion of 100,000 illegal immigrants, the deportation of extremist preachers and tough measures against criminals, starting with drug dealers.
Relations with Europe will certainly be reformulated, because both the League and Five Star are Euroskeptic movements, but certainly Italy will remain in the European channel with a strong focus on the Mediterranean, whose stability and security are also vital for Italian security. This will require strong, authoritative and reliable partners in the moderate Arab world.

• Max Ferrari is an Italian journalist and politician.