Italy's premier sets conditions to remain in office
Premier Mario Draghi challenged his bickering coalition partners Wednesday to decide once and for all if they want to pull together behind him to continue governing Italy after his resignation produced unprecedented public pleas for him to stay in office.
In a showdown in the Senate, the former European Central Bank chief who was drafted to lead Italy 17 months ago ago suggested he would continue if the restive parties in his coalition recommitted to a unity pact that created his government.
"Are you ready? Are you ready to rebuild this pact? Are you ready?" Draghi thundered at the end of his speech to senators. "You don't have to give the answer to me. You have to give it to all Italians."
After hours of debate on the conditions he laid out in his speech. Draghi was due to deliver his rebuttal late Wednesday afternoon. Senators from an array of parties were then set to speak and make clear whether or not Draghi has the solid support he said he required to continue as premier.
Draghi offered his resignation to Italy's president on July 14 after senators from the populist 5-Star Movement, a coalition partner and the biggest vote-getter in the 2018 election for Parliament, shunned a confidence vote on an energy bill that included a provision for a trash incinerator for Rome they bitterly opposed.
Since then, some 1,000 mayors, a doctors' association and other lobbying groups, and tens of thousands of ordinary citizens signing "Draghi, stay" petitions have urged him not to step down.
His supporters argue that just as Italy needed Draghi to steer an economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic, the country still requires his leadership as it copes with soaring inflation and energy prices, Russia's war in Ukraine and implementing reforms required to receive the rest of some 200 billion euros in European Union pandemic recovery funds.
Draghi has repeatedly said he wouldn't govern without the populists since they signed on to the unity coalition he agreed to lead last year. He also declared he wouldn't cede to ultimatums; his predecessor in the premier's office, 5-Star leader Giuseppe Conte, has issued conditions for staying in the government.
In his speech, Draghi indicated he would consider remaining as premier assuming he gets iron-clad coalition support. He cited the outpouring of backing from Italian mayors and medical personnel whom he described as the "heroes of the pandemic."
"The mobilization in these days by citizens, associations and areas for the government to continue is unprecedented and impossible to ignore," Draghi said. "This demand for stability requires all of us to decide if it's possible to recreate the conditions in which the government can truly govern."
Since the populists' defection in last week's Senate vote, the political crisis has grown more convoluted. Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch Draghi backer, teamed up with his right-wing ally, Matteo Salvini, to declare their parties would only stay in a coalition that excluded the 5-Stars.
While the Senate debate stretched on for hours, after Draghi's address, Berlusconi and Salvini huddled at the media mogul's villa on the outskirts of Rome to map strategy.
A senator from Salvini's League party, insisted that the 5-Stars had to go. "It's impossible to govern with these travel companions,'' Sen. Massimiliano Romeo.
The number of 5-Star members serving in Parliament has declined due to defections before and during Draghi's tenure. The most prominent member to bolt the Movement was Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who said he was dismayed by Conte's wavering on military aid for Ukraine.
Salvini, with a longtime pro-Russia stance, had also expressed objections to additional military assistance. But ultimately, lawmakers approved the multiple military aid packages.
Following the developments was President Sergio Mattarella, who rejected Draghi's resignation offer last week and asked him to appear in Parliament to lay out the situation. But if the Draghi government crisis can't be solved, Mattarella can dissolve Parliament, triggering early elections, if he can't see any possibility for an alternative government.
Mattarella tapped Draghi to form a government of national unity, grouping parties from the right, left and the 5-Stars to guide Italy through its economic reboot amid the pandemic and hammer out the reforms linked to the EU funds.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Draghi has pressed ahead with efforts to slash Italy's dependence on Russian gas, including agreements forged with Algeria, which the premier visited earlier this week.
"I believe that a premier who never went before voters must have the biggest support possible in Parliament," Draghi said, arguing for unwavering coalition partner support as a condition to keep governing. "This is even more important in a context of an emergency, in which the government must take decisions that profoundly impact the lives of Italians."
Addressing some of the 5-Star demands, Draghi insisted that proposals for basic income and a minimum wage were indeed on his agenda.
Source: Associated Press
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