He was leading a technocrat government to implement austerity measures, but has lost the support of the party of the former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
Geoengineering is another distraction beloved by technocrats, apparently because they can imagine big, centralised technological innovation, but not the impact of countless small, localised changes.
Mrs. Pellerin's comments have caused a lively debate on social media with some accusing her of being a technocrat but many sympathize with her situation.
The technocrats ought to have foreseen this obstacle, but several commentators have argued that there remains a bigger potential constitutional problem with the 75% tax rate.