LATEST: Mario Draghi faces the end as Italy’s
coalition refuses to back him
Fresh elections are looming after Forza Italia and
League refused to back Draghi in confidence vote.
BY HANNAH
ROBERTS
July 20,
2022 6:23 pm
ROME –
Mario Draghi is facing the end of his premiership, after he failed to win
enough support from right-wing parties in his coalition to carry on leading
Italy’s government.
In a speech
on Wednesday, Draghi indicated he was willing to stay on as prime minister if
his feuding coalition partners could guarantee “sincere and concrete support”
for him to continue.
But
although he won a confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday evening, it was
without the backing of key parties in the power-sharing administration.
On the face
of it, there’s nowhere for Draghi to go, apart from to visit Italy’s President,
Sergio Mattarella, to offer his resignation.
He could
decide to test support in another confidence vote in Italy’s lower house of
parliament. But if he does quit, it would lead to an early election, plunging
the country into months of upheaval. Italy’s right-wing parties would be
expected to win that contest, which would likely be held in the fall.
The
departure of the 74 year-old former President of the European Central Bank
would also deprive the EU of one of its most experienced leaders at a critical
moment, with inflation soaring and war raging on its doorstep.
Wednesday’s
voting marked the culmination of a crisis that has been brewing for months, as
tensions built between Italy’s increasingly fractious coalition partners ahead
of elections scheduled for next year.
After a
meeting between Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the center-right Forza Italia, and
Matteo Salvini, leader of the hard-right League, at Berlusconi’s villa in Rome
on Wednesday, the two right-wing parties put forward conditions of their own
for backing Draghi.
They agreed
to support him only if the new government excludes the 5Star Movement –
something Draghi has previously said he would not accept. They also demanded
the removal of Health Minister Roberto Speranza and Interior Minister Luciana
Lamorgese, who the League sees as weak on handling of the pandemic and
immigration. They said that they would not take part in the confidence vote on
Draghi’s motion.
These
demands would be very difficult for Draghi to accommodate. He has said he would
not lead a government that excluded 5Stars. Without them, the balance in the
coalition would shift to the right and Draghi sees his mandate as leading a
government of national unity.
Draghi offered
to resign last week after the 5Star Movement boycotted a critical confidence
vote. But after President Sergio Mattarella rejected his resignation, Draghi
agreed to make a last-ditch attempt to save the coalition.
He said in
his speech to the Senate on Wednesday that he would be willing to stay on as
Italian prime minister, but only if there was support for his program of
EU-mandated reforms and policies from his coalition partners.
He
criticized the parties, which he said had manifested “growing difference and
division” in recent months, and cited their opposition to various proposed laws
as evidence that that the governing majority “has been ground down on its
program of modernizing the country.”
The two
right-wing parties in his coalition appeared to be surprised and irritated by
the tone and content of Draghi’s speech.
Massimo
Bitonci, a League lawmaker, said his party were “stupefied” by Draghi’s
remarks. He claimed that Draghi had not referenced policies supported by the
League, such as a flat tax rate in his proposed agenda.
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