After securing a large parliamentary majority, Mario Draghi took the reins of Italy and presented a motley government that must get the country out of the political crisis coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 92,000 dead for more than 2.6 million cases.
Former Goldman Sachs vice-president for Europe, before heading the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi was chosen by French President Sergio Mattarella to succeed Giuseppe Conte, forced to resign after the break-up of his coalition.
The new Italian President of the Council has chosen a man of confidence, Daniele Franco, for the key Ministry of the Economy.
Aged 67, considered one of the best public finance experts on the peninsula, the latter spent most of his career with the Bank of Italy, of which Mario Draghi was governor, until he became one. number two in early 2020.
Mario Draghi, however, played continuity in several other important posts: he thus confirmed Luigi Di Maio, senior official of the 5 Star Populist Movement (M5S), as Minister of Foreign Affairs, technocrat Luciana Lamorgese as Minister of 'Interior and Roberto Speranza, from the small left-wing LEU party, as Minister of Health.
A "super-ministry" of the ecological transition
Mario Draghi also announced the upcoming creation of a "super-ministry" of the ecological transition which will be headed by a renowned physicist, Roberto Cingolani, responsible since September 2019 for technological innovation at the Italian aeronautical giant Leonardo .
Nicknamed "Super Mario" for his role in the euro zone debt crisis in 2012, the former banker will be sworn in on Saturday, then seek the confidence of Parliament at the start of the week.
Since Sergio Mattarella appealed to him on February 3, Mario Draghi has conducted all-out talks with the political parties represented in parliament, which allowed him to form a motley team ranging from the Democratic Party (PD, center left) to the Far-right league led by Matteo Salvini via the right-wing Forza Italia party of Silvio Berlusconi.
The Ministry of Economic Development, a ministry with great weight, falls to Giancarlo Giorgetti, Salvini's eminence grise.
Thursday, in extremis, the unclassifiable 5 Star Movement (M5S), anti-system until it came to power, had also given the green light, thus bringing down the last obstacle to a government of national unity.
The difficulties have only just begun, however, for this affable 73-year-old Italian renowned for his discretion, his seriousness and his determination.
Priority to vaccination
Italy, which is approaching the 100,000 death mark from Covid, recorded one of the worst GDP drops in the euro zone in 2020, with a plunge of 8.9%.
The third largest economy in the area relies heavily on the windfall of more than 200 billion European funds, conditioned on the presentation in Brussels by the end of April of a detailed expenditure plan.
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“But it's not enough to spend the funds.
The European Commission expects spending to go hand in hand with reforms, ”according to an analysis by the Center for European Reform (CER).
At the top of the priorities is also the acceleration of the vaccination campaign, affected as in other European countries by slow supply.
Only 1.2 million Italians out of 60 million have been vaccinated.
Other projects that have remained in the pipeline for decades await Mario Draghi on his desk at Palazzo Chigi, seat of government in the center of Rome: remedy the slowness of justice, tackle bureaucracy by making the administration more efficient , and launch the ecological transition, which will be coordinated by a full-fledged ministry, the first of its kind in Italy.
Even if he benefits for the moment from his aura of "savior of the nation", this man with pepper and salt hair trained by the Jesuits, whose arrival has delighted the financial markets, will have to show a lot of skill. to stay in the saddle over the long term in the face of political parties which should be increasingly agitated as the next elections approach, scheduled for 2023.
“In politics, as in nature, there are cycles: honeymoon, peak, decline.
Even Draghi cannot defy this law, ”warns political analysis site Policy Sonar.
"Now he is in the
honeymoon
phase
and no one will dare challenge him in the coming months," he reassures, however.
But "the fact that his government depends on the support of such a disparate group of political parties will probably limit its room for maneuver and make it difficult for a consensus to emerge", according to the CER.