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Five-star party founder Beppe Grillo before his meeting with Draghi
Photo: Cecilia Fabiano / AP
The search for government in Italy will be more difficult for Mario Draghi than it already is.
The former head of the European Central Bank wants to form a unity government - now the Five Star Movement (M5S) has announced that it will temporarily put its support for Draghi on hold.
A good third of the MPs and senators in Rome belong to the movement.
In Italy, the ruling center-left alliance under Giuseppe Conte collapsed in mid-January, and he submitted his resignation a few days later.
A week ago, Draghi tentatively accepted the mandate to form a government from President Sergio Mattarella - but without the support of M5S it will be difficult to form a government alliance.
The party wants to wait for a public commitment from Draghi for the government program and then an internal vote, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
Only then does she want to guarantee whether she will support Draghi's course.
The announcement is likely to delay a possible government formation.
The five-star movement originally wanted to hold the online survey of its party members from Wednesday (12 p.m.) to Thursday (12 p.m.).
On Wednesday morning, however, M5S surprisingly announced that "the planned vote on the government" had been suspended for an indefinite period.
"The new voting times will be announced later," the statement said.
After a first round of talks with Draghi, the party leadership of the M5S had signaled its readiness to support a government of national unity if a majority could be found within the party.
After meeting Draghi, party founder Beppe Grillo wrote on Facebook: "I would expect him to make the statements he made to us public." Movement, Grillo added.
"Let's wait for him to say publicly what he wants to do," added the party founder.
According to Italian media reports, the vote of the M5S party members could now take place on Friday or on the weekend.
Draghi had negotiated for the second time with the parties in parliament on Monday and Tuesday.
Many had signaled their support for a cabinet with the 73-year-old at the top.
On Wednesday he wants to meet with representatives of trade unions and associations.
In the Chamber of Deputies in Rome, representatives of environmental associations such as WWF Italia, industry representatives from agriculture as well as trade unions and business associations are invited, as the chamber announced.
The meetings are part of the government talks in Italy.
Draghi is expected to put together an expert government made up of technocrats and politicians.
Italy is also battling the worst recession since the end of World War II.
Time is of the essence as several key restrictions in the fight against the coronavirus expire on Monday.
The measures, which include a night curfew, can only be extended by a government decree.
Conte had announced his resignation after the coalition he led broke up in the dispute over the use of the European Union's corona aid funds.
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mrc / dpa / AFP
