Seeking greater stability is helpful. Having Vannacci around is a problem. An analysis by economist Lorenzo Codogno

“It was clear that the decision by the mayor of Bologna would have provided an excellent pretext for the usual suspects from the social centres and the protest movement to run the city ragged,” says the Prime Minister. On the Roggero case: “There is a question of proportionality regarding the penalties imposed.” Preferences? “I haven’t changed my mind.”

The Prime Minister calls for “loyalty” and insists on her preferences, against the wishes of the Forza Italia Deputy Prime Minister (who relents) and the Berlusconis. The League warns: “Either we give in, or Meloni will go to the polls on her own. Or with Vannacci.”

Democracy, long held in check; the needs of the ‘little people’; the Second Republic. And the reforms that lie ahead. Because ‘liberal’ does not rhyme with ‘proportional’

Following approval at first reading in the Chamber of Deputies, the two-party system is consolidated, whilst the space for third parties and extremist groups outside the coalitions is shrinking

Committees, public squares and a democratic crisis. The opposition is finding new vigour in the battle over the electoral law, which is making people forget the issues surrounding policy and leadership. 100 initiatives are already planned to explain the "risks of the Melonellum. More dangerous than the separation of careers".

The Prime Minister breathes a sigh of relief at the approval of the Stabilicum and is already looking ahead to September: she’s heading to the beach, in the south, to celebrate the longest-serving government in the history of the Republic. But relations with Salvini and Tajani remain strained