The head of the Italian State, Sergio Mattarella, has opted today for the formation of a Government that faces the emergency situation that the country is going through due to the pandemic after verifying the failure of the mediation to reissue the Executive between the political parties that formed the old government coalition. Mattarella then summoned the former president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, to entrust him this Wednesday with the formation of a unity government.
I call on all political forces in the country to give life to a government that does not identify with any party and that is high profile to face the present emergency, referring to a triple health crisis. , social and economic. In his speech, Mattarella said that the other possible option at this time was to hold elections, but he justified his decision not to call them because it would entail the lack of a fully functioning government for crucial months in the fight against the pandemic.
Draghi is credited with bringing the eurozone off the brink of collapse in 2012. Since his term at the head of the ECB ended in October 2019, he has practically disappeared from the economic and political landscape, although his name has sounded for the last few years. weeks as a possible prime minister.
“Without Unanimous Will”
The round of negotiations to form a new government in Italy failed this Tuesday after the discrepancies between the parties of the governing coalition informed the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Fico, who regretted that there was not “a unanimous will to give life to a majority “. The announcement was made at the end of almost four days of consultations at the request of Mattarella, to rebuild the parliamentary majority that supported the resigned Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte
After the collapse of the majority of Conte’s coalition government, which remains in office until the political scenario is clarified, Mattarella’s first option was the formation of a new government with the parties that supported the acting prime minister, which he commissioned from Fico, after a round of consultations with the Italian political parties
Technocratic Administration
The trigger for the crisis has been the division within the ruling coalition – formed by Italia Viva, the 5 Star Movement (M5S), and the Democratic Party (PD) – after disagreements over the fate of the European recovery funds to fill the patience of the leader of Italia Viva, Matteo Renzi, who decided on January 13 to break the alliance and remove his two ministers. The Conte government was thus in the minority.
The option of turning to Conte again was the favorite, although the Italian press had already referred to the possibility of an administration led by a technocrat, as happened in 2011 with Mario Monti. If there is no agreement, Italy would be forced to call early elections.
The M5S and the PD have already spoken out against this possibility, in favor of which, among others, the leader of the League, the far-right Matteo Salvini, speak. Not surprisingly, his party appears as the favorite in all recent polls on voting intention and has options to head a future right-wing government after his time as Interior Minister in Conte’s first cabinet. From the conservative Italian Forza Italia party, its leader, Silvio Berlusconi, has raised the option of a government of national unity.
