Italian president asks Draghi to rethink resignation

Draghi had announced his plan to resign on Thursday after the 5-Star Movement, a coalition party, declined to back him in a confidence vote over his plan to combat soaring prices.

“The national unity coalition that backed this government no longer exists,” said Draghi, the former European Central Bank president who has been prime minister of a broad coalition since February 2021.

It was not clear how Draghi would respond to the intervention of Mattarella, the supreme arbiter in Italian politics.

The confidence vote had become a focal point for tensions within Draghi’s government as its parties prepare to fight each other in a national election due by early 2023.

The 5-Star party had wanted Draghi to do more to help families to cope with rising inflation in part caused by the war in Ukraine, even if it meant a steeper hike in government borrowing.

The decision by the 5-Star party to boycott the confidence vote triggered the sequence of events that prompted the 74-year-old Draghi to say he would quit.

Draghi had said he would not want to lead a government without 5-Star, which emerged as the largest party in the previous election in 2018 but has since suffered defections and a loss of public support.

Mattarella can try to persuade Draghi to form another government, find a new caretaker leader to take Italy to an election next year, or call an early election.

Italy has not had an autumn election since World War Two as that is normally when the budget is drawn up and approved by parliament.

President Sergio Mattarella could ask Draghi to call a fresh confidence vote in parliament next week. If the 5-Star decides to return to government ranks, the national unity coalition would remain in place, albeit battered and bruised.

Former premier and 5-Star leader Giuseppe Conte has left the door open for discussions with Draghi. However, 5-Star support is in steady decline and many party members are pushing for a complete cut with the government hoping to revive the party’s flailing fortunes from opposition benches.

Draghi calls a confidence vote and musters the support of the rest of the coalition parties, including the rightist League, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and a sizeable group of former 5-Star politicians who split with Conte last month. The former European Central Bank chief would have a smaller, but nonetheless viable majority in both houses of parliament.

However, Draghi has said he would not stay in power without the 5-Star, and both the PD and the League have signalled they will not back another government if the 5-Star boycotts the Senate vote on Thursday.

Even if Draghi and the two parties change their mind, the operation would upset the government’s internal equilibrium, since the coalition would be heavily skewed to the right, and demands from the remaining groups could trigger fresh turmoil.

If Draghi resigns and refuses to head a new administration, the president could dissolve parliament and call early elections that would take place in late September or October. Draghi might stay on as a caretaker, or Mattarella could ask someone else to take charge for the remaining weeks of the legislature.

However, Italy has not held an election in autumn since World War Two, with the final months of the year traditionally dedicated to drawing up the budget.

An early vote carries other risks. Italy still needs to meet many bureaucratic and legislative deadlines this year to secure billions of euros in European funds and these might be missed without a fully functioning government in place.

In an effort to avoid early elections and financial turmoil, Mattarella could try to put together another unity administration calling in an institutional figure to lead a new coalition until elections, which are due in the first half of 2023.

However, it is hard to imagine the various components of Draghi’s government rallying around a new figure.

REUTERS