After a bitter camp election campaign, he won the parliamentary elections on 9/10. 4. In 2006 the center-left alliance »L’Unione«, newly formed in 2005 under the leadership of the former Prime Minister Prodi with a majority of only 24,755 votes, was extremely narrowly above Berlusconi’s center-right alliance »Casa delle Libertà«, but was able to do so due to the electoral reform of 2005 have a secure majority in the House of Representatives. On May 10, 2006, the center-left alliance pushed through its candidate, former PCI member G. Napolitano, as Ciampi’s successor in the office of president.
On May 17, 2006, the Prodis multiparty cabinet was sworn in as the 61st post-war government. With an extremely narrow majority in the second chamber of parliament, the Senate, and considerable differences in the coalition, Prodi struggled to keep his government operational. A vote defeat in the Senate on February 21, 2007 on the extension of the Afghanistan mission led him to submit his resignation, which President Napolitano did not accept. Although could Prodi To regain his government alliance after making concessions to trade unions and communists, but remained dependent on the instrument of the vote of confidence, especially since the reputation of the government team was further shaken by various political affairs. With the merger to form the Partito Democratico (PD) on October 14, 2007, the two largest ruling parties – the left-wing democrats (DS) that emerged from the communist party and the Christian-liberal “La Margherita” – tried to stabilize the center-left camp on a permanent basis.
On January 24, 2008, Prodi announced his resignation after losing a vote of confidence in the Senate. This was preceded by the resignation of Justice Minister Clemente Mastella (* 1947) after allegations of corruption against his wife and the withdrawal of his party, the Christian Democratic Unione Democratici per l’Europa (UDEUR), from the center-left coalition. After the formation of a transitional government had failed, President Napolitano dissolved the parliament and paved the way for new elections on 13/14. 4th 2008 free. The center-right alliance “Il Popolo della Libertà” (German The People of Freedom) Berlusconi won the election with 46.8% of the vote and 344 of the 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The center-left alliance of PD and Italia dei Valori (IdV) achieved 37.5% of the votes and 246 seats in the chamber. The new Berlusconi government was sworn in on May 8, 2008. As a sign of his determination to tackle the country’s problems, the new head of government dedicated the first cabinet meeting to the dramatic waste crisis in Naples. Decisions were made, inter alia. the establishment of ten new landfills and the construction of four incineration plants. On July 22, 2008, the Senate approved a controversial new immunity law, according to which the holders of the highest state offices (President of the State, Prime Minister, Presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies) enjoy protection from criminal prosecution during their term of office. The Chamber of Deputies had previously approved the law. The main tasks of the government that it set itself included combating illegal immigration. On July 23, 2008, the Senate finally approved a legislative package, which enabled higher prison sentences and faster deportation. On November 28, 2008, the government passed an economic stimulus package to mitigate the effects of the global financial market crisis on the domestic economy. For more articles about Italy and Europe, please follow Thesciencetutor.
In addition to the economic stimulus package that had already been adopted in November 2008, Parliament decided at the beginning of February 2009, among other things. a scrapping bonus for cars (€ 1,500) and motorcycles (€ 500) and an infrastructure program worth € 17.8 billion. An anti-crisis package followed in the middle of the year. Tax breaks for reinvested profits and for the purchase of new machinery and equipment. The ruling electoral alliance Il Popolo della Libertà (PdL) made up of Forza Italia, Alleanza Nazionale and several smaller parties transformed itself into the party of the same name at the founding congress from March 27 to 29, 2009. A severe earthquake on April 6, 2009 in Abruzzo around the provincial capital L’Aquila killed 289 people and left 100,000 homeless.
After their heavy defeat in the regional elections in Sardinia on 15./16. 2 In 2009 the PD, the largest opposition party, got into a leadership crisis. In a strike vote on October 25, 2009, the PD members elected the former Minister of Industry, P. L. Bersani, as the new chairman. On October 7, 2009, the Constitutional Court declared the immunity law passed in 2008, on the basis of which two proceedings against Berlusconi had been dropped, to be unlawful. The center-right government then introduced a law on November 10, 2009 to shorten court proceedings to a maximum of six years, which also included a faster statute of limitations. The bill sparked heated public debate.
The economic crisis also dominated 2010. On May 25, 2010 the cabinet passed an austerity package worth € 24 billion. It envisaged a three-year freeze on public sector salaries, cuts to higher-paid officials and cut more than 200,000 civil servant posts by 2013. Further deletions concerned the health system, culture as well as local and regional governments. In addition, the measures against tax evasion have been tightened. On July 15, 2010 the package passed the Senate and on July 28, 2010 the Chamber of Deputies. Repeatedly on strike and demonstrated v. a. Unions, students and schoolchildren in protest against the austerity measures.
