The 5 Star Movement Glows in Italy

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The people of Italy have ousted the elitist and globalist political parties of the past and elected insurgent parties to govern them. Led by the 5 Star Party, a new coalition government plans to address the problems faced by Italy’s people, including frustration with massive immigration. Giovanni Legorano and Marcus Walker report in The Wall Street Journal (abridged):

A movement that channeled Italians’ rage at mainstream politicians struck a pact with a hard-right nationalist party to govern the country, a major prize for the political insurgencies that have been shaking Europe’s establishment.

The 5 Star Movement, an eclectic upstart group driven by scorn toward Italy’s ruling elites, on Sunday evening said it had agreed on the outlines of a governing program with the anti-immigration League party, clearing the way for a likely coalition government. The parties said they would slash and simplify taxes while boosting spending on pensions and antipoverty benefits.

The old center-right and center-left parties that built today’s EU are losing popular support across most of the Continent, as new rivals seize on voter frustrations including unemployment and fears about societal cohesion amid large-scale immigration from the Middle East and Africa, which has brought 750,000 migrants to Italy since 2011.

High undocumented immigration from Africa and the Middle East has piled cultural angst on economic woes

The parties won the elections by offering opposite kinds of fiscal largess. The 5 Star Movement pledged to introduce a universal basic income aimed at protecting the poor and unemployed, winning widespread support in Italy’s economically blighted south. The League proposed a flat-rate income tax of 15%.