The Catholic church has long been seen as the biggest impediment to legalising same-sex civil unions in Italy

But this week, political brinksmanship by the populist Five Star Movement (M5S), a political upstart that gained steam in 2009 and has rapidly emerged as Italy’s second largest party, was largely to blame for an impasse that has threatened to derail legislation that would give same-sex couples the same legal rights as their heterosexual counterparts.

It was a potentially defining move for a party that sometimes adopts the mantle of a leftwing activist group – especially on issues involving the environment – but has also taken conservative positions.

If the bill fails, Italy will remain the only major country in western Europe that does not recognise either civil unions or gay marriage. It will not only mark a blow to the hopes of millions of supporters of LGBT rights, but will represent a significant failure by Matteo Renzi, the centre-left prime minister who promised to pass civil unions when he assumed office in 2014.

The delay comes after intense debate – both in and out of the Senate – about the legislation and its impact on “traditional families”.

For months, it was believed that a bill to secure basic rights for LGBT couples would pass through the Senate, largely because the legislation has popular support.

Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi promised to pass civil unions when he assumed office. Photograph: Julien Warnand/EPA

But an aspect of the bill that would, in some rare cases, grant parental rights to a same-sex partner has encountered intense opposition from conservatives and Catholic groups, who say it would open the door to gay couples using surrogates to have children. The use of surrogates in Italy is illegal.

Renzi’s Democratic party had brokered a complicated parliamentary agreement with the M5S that would, in effect, have struck down thousands of amendments that were been put forward by conservatives to try to scrap the civil union legislation, especially the so-called “stepchild provision”.

But the M5S walked away from the deal on Wednesday, thereby delaying a vote on the bill and raising the possibility that the proposal dealing with parental rights could ultimately be struck from the legislation so that the basic proposal can pass.

Those who oppose the legislation include Catholic members of Renzi’s own party and it has been evidently impossible for even the prime minister to know for sure whether he has the votes to get the deal done.

The Senate’s chief whip, Luigi Zanda, asked on Wednesday to put off the bill for a week to allow “a period of reflection so we can pull the political threads back together”.

In Rome, LGBT activists were busy on Thursday trying to salvage the deal and put pressure on the M5S to return to the agreement.



“If the law passes without the stepchild adoption, then it is not our law. But it is better than nothing,” said a spokesman for Arcigay, an activist group.

The expansion of LGBT rights has traditionally been vehemently opposed by the Catholic church in Italy. While Pope Francis has largely stayed out of the debate over this legislation, the head of the Italian bishops’ conference, Angelo Bagnasco, has been a vocal critic, provoking an almost unprecedented rebuke from the prime minister.



Renzi, a Catholic who has maintained good relations with the Vatican since taking office, essentially told Bagnasco to mind his own business last week after the bishop called on the Senate to allow a secret ballot on the civil union bill so that lawmakers could vote their conscience.

“Parliament decides whether or not to allow secret votes ... not the head of the bishops’ conference,” Renzi said during an interview with Rai Media.



“What is there to fear from two people who love each other? Why not give these rights to two people who love each other? The majority of the country is clearly in favour of it.”

But the M5S seems to disagree with that sentiment. After seemingly supporting the legislation for months, Beppe Grillo, the former comic who heads the protest party, announced that members of his party could vote their conscience on the bill.

It was a reflection, analysts said, of the changing political landscape in Italy. The country’s conservative and right-wing parties are largely in disarray and Grillo likely sees an opportunity to pick up conservative voters in upcoming local elections if he can scupper or weaken the civil unions bill.

“There is an element in this of M5S generally not being reliable partners. They are also opportunistic. There is an opportunity to grab votes from centre-right parties, which at this point cannot even put forward candidates in key cities,” said Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst at Teneo Intelligence in London.