Foreign Digest: United Kingdom and Italy

United Kingdom

            The Conservatives chose a new leader lat last month, Boris Johnson, who subsequently became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He leads a coalition government with a minimal majority together with a conservative unionist party in Northern Ireland.  Johnson promises the UK will leave the European Union by the deadline of the end of October, with or without any deal.  The largest sticking point is the indefinite arrangement for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which remains in the EU, in terms of passports and customs.  An open border between the British province and the free Irish state was an essential component of the 1997 peace deal that ended the Troubles.  The new premier is demanding a renegotiated agreement with the EU, which has stated that it will not modify the deal it has offered, although there may be clarifications.  The deal was thrice rejected by the British Parliament under the previous Prime Minister, although by a much smaller number of votes the last time.  Contingency plans for trade and customs will have to be made by the UK and EU if the British leave without a deal.

Italy

           The junior Italian government coalition party, the League, announced Friday that it plans a no-confidence motion in the lower house of the Parliament against the Prime Minister.  The far-right anti-migrant party claims disagreements with its support for the proposed high-speed rail line from Turin to Lyon, France, on greater regional autonomy and other issues with the anti-establishment populists who have led the Government for 14 months.  However, snap elections, which could be scheduled for October, would be strategically advantageous to the League because it is currently much higher than its coalition partner or any other party in the polls, as was reflected in the European Union elections in May.  Early elections could also precede the results of an investigation of Russian attempts to offer tens of millions of dollars worth of energy resources to the pro-Vladimir Putin party and the latter’s willingness to accept them, which the “nationalist” party’s leader refuses to submit to questions about in Parliament.