Italian Elections: Uncertainties Ahead for Italy and Europe

Italy held its general elections on 24 and 25 February 2013. Unfortunately the main outcome is a climate of political uncertainty. Pier Luigi Bersani’s centre-left coalition won only a handful more votes than Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right party in both Chambers. Monti centristic alliance did not secure the share of votes it was hoping for, coming only fourth.

Giuseppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement (M5S) – an anti-party, anti-corruption and anti-austerity protest movement (although not strictly anti-Europe) – has emerged as the real winner becoming the largest political party in the Lower Chamber.

These results clearly do not guarantee a stable majority. This means that uncertainty and instability are likely to become an inevitable trend in Italian governance over the coming months, with the potential for negative impacts on Europe given Italy’s prominence at an EU level.

The analysis includes a summary of the results, possible political scenarios and next steps, as well as the potential implications of these results at the EU level.