For those who believe that Italy is heading for collapse, which will eventually bring down the EU project, will be bitterly disappointed.
While Italy did undergo a mini-crisis last week, it appears that a new government, with a willingness to work with Brussels, is the most pragmatic and likely outcome from recent elections in Italy.
The Five Star Movement and the Northern League agreed to form a coalition government that would have represented the two anti-EU parties which together won almost 50% of the vote in the parliamentary elections, and which have a majority in the lower house of the Italian Parliament the Chamber of Deputies.
There government formed represented the parties which won the parliamentary elections, and should have been allowed to take office and govern, but the European Union was not in agreement.
Before analysing what has just happened in Italy and discussing its likely consequences, it is necessary to say something about the fact of what has just happened.
Italy is supposed to be a parliamentary republic with the Prime Minister and the government accountable to the parliament.
As in other parliamentary republics the Italian President is supposed to be a figure above politics, whose primary function is to safeguard the constitution, which he is sworn to uphold. He is not supposed to meddle in day to day politics or to take on himself the leadership of the country.
