He agreed to lead a national unity government and threw in the towel when he believed Italy did not have enough support for a non-political executive. Mario Draghi, the former governor of the European Central Bank, handed in his resignation letter to President Sergio Mattarella, who asked him to lay the groundwork for recovery in 2021 in a country in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. Economic recession. Mattarella refused and asked to return to parliament to see if he still had a majority.
In February last year, all parties with parliamentary representation except the Brothers of Italy (later Fascists) consolidated the ruling coalition. The Threat of losing support to 5 Star movement (Anti-Establishment), the most polled formation in 2018 in the last elections, has been growing for weeks. The party’s elected representatives refused to participate in a confidence vote on a proposal in the Senate, which has now passed. Draghi still won the vote, but, as he explained in a statement, he considers “the majority of national unity that supported this government no longer exists” and concludes “a confidence agreement based on the government’s action”.
He was not forced to resign; Indeed, many centre-left parties have asked him not to do so, and some insist that the best way out of the crisis is actually a “tragic-bis” government – a familiar expression in Italy, underscoring how the situation, despite its complexity, is not unprecedented; There was already a “Conte-bis” in this assembly, when Giuseppe Conte, President of 5 Stars and former Prime MinisterHe negotiated a second government with different parties without going to a vote.
“I think continuity of government is very important at this time,” he said. Enrico LetaSecretary General of the Democratic Party (the largest center-left formation), he almost refused to accept a replacement.
Formally, Mattarella could task Draghi with negotiating a new majority. For now, it is known that he will be back in Parliament next Wednesday (irrevocable international commitments will not allow him), for a debate on the political situation. But 5 Star says he may have given up as his swift dismissal was confirmed after losing favor. Your time rather than country goals.
Having approved plans to use 209 billion euros made available to Italy through an EU rescue plan, the president wants to avoid elections in the autumn – the next legislature is scheduled for spring 2023. Discussions are already underway on who will head the new unit executive if Draghi is unavailable. But with the far-right demanding that Italians be called to the polls, a series of political crises, twists and turns, and dramatic coups, put an end to a legislature even by Italian standards.
“With Draghi’s resignation, this assembly is over for Italy’s brothers,” he wrote on Twitter. Georgia Meloney, the party leader is currently leading the polls. “I’m ready to rule”, Meloni underlined Matteo SalviniThe head of the League, who led the far-right coalition in 2018 (but now fears the electoral costs of Meloni’s results and backing Draghi) insisted that a political freeze was once “unthinkable” and that “no one should fear”. The word must be given back to the Italians.
“Chaos” in Brussels
5 Estrelas de Conte, on the other hand, mired in internal crisis for months, still split and lost part of its elected representatives – and at the very bottom of the polls – seemed almost surprised by the results. Its conclusion. Despite Draghi making it clear that the government will not continue without this support.
The foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, the former head of 5 Star, left movement and formed his own party, Together for the Future, accused the current leaders of having a plan for months to oust Draghi. “They have a nine-month election campaign to go to the polls, but that way they condemn the country to fall into economic and social decline,” he said.
Even before the vote, this Thursday, de Mayo won another seat in the Senate, Senator Cynthia Leon decided to go to her parliamentary group, “disappointed with Conte” and “disappointed with the policies” of the 5 Estrelas.
In Brussels, European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, himself a former Italian prime minister, said the commission was watching Italy’s developments “with perfect detachment, but with worrying confusion”.
“Hardcore explorer. Extreme communicator. Professional writer. General music practitioner. Prone to fits of apathy.”