is now in place, Mario Draghi takes Italy in hand! Friday evening, February 12, after securing a large majority in Parliament, the former head of the European Central Bank officially agreed to become the Italian Prime Minister. He immediately presented his government. With the clearly stated objective of his country’s exit from an unwelcome political crisis, while the country continues to fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The economist was chosen by Sergio Mattarella, the President of the Italian Republic, to succeed Giuseppe Conte.
The latter, who had been forced to resign after the breakup of his coalition, chose a man of confidence, Daniele Franco, for the key Ministry of the Economy. Daniele Franco, 67, considered one of the best public finance experts on the peninsula, spent most of his career with the Bank of Italy, of which Mario Draghi was governor, until becoming its number two early 2020.
Luigi Di Maio confirmed to Foreign Affairs
Mario Draghi, however, played continuity in several other important positions: he thus confirmed Luigi Di Maio, senior official of the 5-star Populist Movement (M5S), as Minister of Foreign Affairs, technocrat Luciana Lamorgese as Minister of ‘Interior and Roberto Speranza, from the small left-wing LEU party, as Minister of Health.
The new head of government has skillfully mixed technocrats and political leaders, choosing competent personalities from all the parties that have offered him their support, without however appealing to the leaders. He also announced the forthcoming creation of a “super-ministry” of the ecological transition which will be headed by a renowned physicist, Roberto Cingolani, responsible since September 2019 for technological innovation at the Italian aeronautical giant Leonardo.
A motley team
Mario Draghi, nicknamed “Super Mario” for his role in the euro zone debt crisis in 2012, will be sworn in on Saturday, then seek Parliament’s confidence at the start of the week. Since Sergio Mattarella called on him on February 3, Mario Draghi has conducted all-out talks with the political parties represented in Parliament, which allowed him to form a motley team ranging from the Democratic Party (PD, center left) to the Far-right league led by Matteo Salvini, via the right-wing Forza Italia party led by Silvio Berlusconi.
Thursday, in extremis, the unclassifiable 5-star Movement (M5S), anti-system until it came to power, had also given the green light, thus bringing down the last obstacle to a government of national unity. The difficulties have only just begun, however, for this affable 73-year-old Italian renowned for his discretion, his seriousness and his determination. Italy, which is approaching the 100,000 death mark from Covid, recorded one of the worst GDP drops in the euro zone in 2020, with a plunge of 8.9%.
These sites that await Mario Draghi
The third largest economy in the area relies heavily on the windfall of more than 200 billion European funds, conditioned on the presentation in Brussels by the end of April of a detailed expenditure plan. “But it’s not enough to spend the funds. The European Commission expects spending to go hand in hand with reforms, ”according to an analysis by the Center for European Reform (CER). At the top of the priorities is also the acceleration of the vaccination campaign, affected as in other European countries by slow supply. Only 1.2 million Italians out of 60 million have been vaccinated.
Other projects that have remained in the pipeline for decades await Mario Draghi on his desk at Palazzo Chigi, seat of government in the center of Rome: remedy the slowness of justice, tackle bureaucracy by making the administration more efficient , and launch the ecological transition, which will be coordinated by a full-fledged ministry, the first of its kind in Italy.
The cycles of politics according to Draghi
Even if he benefits for the moment from his aura of “savior of the nation”, this man with pepper and salt hair trained by the Jesuits, whose arrival has delighted the financial markets, will have to show a lot of skill. to stay in the saddle over the long term in the face of political parties which should be increasingly agitated as the next elections approach, scheduled for 2023.
“In politics, as in nature, there are cycles: honeymoon, peak, decline. Even Draghi cannot defy this law, ”warns political analysis site Policy Sonar. “Now he is in the phase honeymoon and no one will dare to challenge him in the coming months, ”he reassures, however. But “the fact that his government depends on the support of such a disparate group of political parties will probably limit its room for maneuver and make it difficult for a consensus to emerge”, according to the CER.
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