Mario Draghi resigns as Italian PM
The move will likely lead to an early election that
would plunge Italy into months of upheaval.
BY HANNAH
ROBERTS
July 21,
2022 10:09 am
https://www.politico.eu/article/mario-draghi-to-present-his-resignation-as-italian-prime-minister/
ROME —
Mario Draghi has resigned as Italian prime minister, throwing the country into
months of turmoil and weakening Europe’s leadership at a critical time.
President
Sergio Mattarella’s office announced the news on Thursday morning after the two
men met at the presidential palace. Draghi’s decision to quit came after he
failed to win the support of his coalition partners in a vote of confidence in
parliament. Early elections are now expected to be held in the fall.
In emotional
scenes in parliament on Thursday morning, Draghi told the Lower House he was
going to hand in his resignation. He was met with extended applause from some
in the chamber, who rose to their feet. “Thanks,” he said in response. “Even
central bankers have a heart.”
The
departure of 74 year-old Draghi, a former president of the European Central
Bank, deprives Italy of an authoritative leader on the threshold of an
unprecedented energy and cost of living crisis, and with a war on Europe’s
doorstep.
It marks
the culmination of weeks of tensions within Italy’s fractious coalition, which
Draghi had tried to run as a government of national unity. After losing the
support of the populist 5Star Movement last week, on Wednesday the prime
minister lost the backing of the right-wing parties in his alliance – Silvio
Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s League.
He is
expected to stay on in a caretaker role until the elections in September or
October. The right-wing parties are expected to win that vote and take power as
part of a coalition with the national-conservative opposition, Brothers of
Italy. But it could take months after the results are known before the new
administration is formed.
The
favorite to take over as prime minister will be Georgia Meloni, leader of the
Brothers of Italy party, who welcomed the prospect of new elections. “With
Draghi’s resignation this legislature is over for Brothers of Italy,” she wrote
on Twitter. “We will fight to give back to the Italian people what citizens of
all other democracies have: the freedom to choose who represents them.”
Draghi’s
exit robs the EU of one of its most experienced leaders and a giant of European
economics at a hugely difficult time for the bloc.
Markets
reacted badly to the news, with Italian stocks falling and bond yields – a
measure of risk in lending to the government – rising. The collapse of Draghi’s
coalition will also complicate the ECB’s decision making on Thursday, when the
bank is expected to announce a rate rise and a new “tool” designed to stabilize
eurozone government debt.
With a war
and an energy crisis adding to fears of a European recession, the absence of
Draghi’s expertise from the EU’s top table will also be a blow to the bloc’s
leadership, just when it is most needed.
President
Mattarella had asked Draghi to verify his majority in Parliament after tensions
within the coalition culminated in the populist 5Star Movement boycotting a
confidence vote last week.
Draghi
technically won a new confidence vote in the Senate on Wednesday, but three of
the parties in his grand coalition abstained or were absent for the vote,
rendering his victory meaningless.
Many
politicians in Italy and outside had wanted Draghi to stay.
Families’
minister Elena Bonetti said the applause that he received in the chamber was
“emotional” and “was evidence of the institutions that believed wholeheartedly
in his government.” She called the
actions of the parties that had abandoned Draghi “unexpected and unjustified” –
particularly from the moderate right, which “allowed populism and nationalism
to triumph over the interests of the Italian people.”
Foreign
Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on Twitter that the crisis was “a black page” in
Italy’s national narrative, accusing his former coalition partners of “playing
games with the future of the Italian people. The effects of this tragic choice
will remain in our history.”
This
article has been updated.
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