After being sabotaged repeatedly by his coalition partner, the 5-Star Movement, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini announced that the government was no longer viable, and there must be a snap election. This has thrown the Italian political scene into turmoil, with legislators being recalled from their August recess to be present for the upcoming election-related votes.

Below are four news reports about what’s happening in Italy, variously in Italian, French, and German. Vlad Tepes did the subtitling for all of them.

The first two videos show Matteo Salvini campaigning on the beaches of Calabria, pressing the flesh and letting his admirers (of which there are many) take selfies with him.

Many thanks to FouseSquawk for both translations:

Beach campaigning #2:

The third video discusses the recall of legislators from their vacations. Many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation:

The final video gives an overview of the governmental crisis in Italy. Notice the matter-of-fact reference to Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia as a “neo-fascist movement”. Once again, many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation:

Video transcript #1:

00:40 Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! 01:25 Can you respond to [Beppe] Grillo [founder of the 5-Star Movement]… 01:29 Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! 01:33 I don’t respond [unintelligible] 01:37 I don’t see a big political dispute. Today I have been attacked 01:41 by Grillo and by Richard Gere. [Unintelligible] I answer to 01:44 the Italian people, not to Grillo or Richard Gere. 01:47 Have you seen the Pope has talked about dangerous sovereignism? 01:52 No, I think about saving lives like the law we are applying. 02:18 Matteo! Matteo! 03:01 Fool! Fool! Fool! Fool! Fool! Fool! Fool! Fool!… Matteo! Matteo! 04:03 Matteo! Matteo! 04:18 Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! 04:34 Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! Matteo! Matteo!



Video transcript #2:

02:52 There is a Spanish ship that has already been in Maltese waters for two days, 02:57 and therefore, they can easily choose between Malta and Spain, not Italy. 03:02 There is a Norwegian ship with a French NGO. 03:06 It can easily choose between France and Norway. 03:34 (If) Richard Gere would put up his millions and his villas, we would resolve the problems of 03:38 some Italians and some Sicilians. To take lessons from these ultra-millionaire phenomena who arrive 03:47 from the other side of the ocean and explain to Italians what they should do with their money… 03:52 embarrassing. So I am embarrassed for Richard Gere. 03:57 So… we are in a democracy.



Video transcript #3:

00:00 Italian Interior Minister and leader of the Lega party Matteo Salvini 00:04 sees no future for the coalition with the 5-Star Movement and wants new elections. 00:10 The Lega announced that it intends to introduce a vote of no confidence against 00:13 the head of government Giuseppe Conte in the Senate. However, 00:16 the parliamentarians are currently on their summer break. 00:19 During the government crisis this afternoon, the faction leaders 00:23 of the Senate, the second chamber of parliament, will meet. 00:26 Salvini said on Sunday: “The only concrete, sincere, transparent, 00:30 effective and democratic solution is to put this to the Italians in a vote. 00:35 I don’t understand this fear of new elections. We’re in a democracy; 00:38 it should be the best thing in the world 00:41 to let the citizens vote”. There has been a crisis since Thursday 00:45 when Salvini plunged the government alliance with the 5-Star Movement into crisis and 00:51 demanded a quick new election. The 5-Star Movement around party leader Luigi di Maio demands that 00:54 before a vote of no confidence against the government, a vote be held in the Chamber of Deputies 00:59 and the Senate to reduce the size of the parliament. 01:03 Former Social Democratic Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Sunday in 01:09 a newspaper interview with Corriere della Sera that it would be insane to vote immediately. 01:12 Salvini explained on Facebook: Underhand manoeuvres, palace intrigues, 01:15 technocrats and parliamentary janitors won’t be able 01:18 to stop Italians who want a strong government. 01:22 The President of the Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Fico of the 5-Star Movement, 01:27 rebuked Salvini. It is the Presidents of Parliament who convene 01:31 the chambers and “nobody else,” Fico explained. 01:34 The president, on the other hand, is the only one who can 01:38 dissolve the chambers and call a new election: “Nobody else.” 01:41 Before President Sergio Mattarella dissolves parliament, 01:45 he should first discuss whether there is an alternative majority to the Lega 01:50 and the 5-Star Movement. Sixty days after the dissolution 01:54 of parliament there could then be new elections. 01:57 Salvini’s Lega party has been ranking high in survey polls for months.



Video transcript #4: