Many MPs applauded Mario Draghi as he addressed the House of Commons ahead of the confidence vote.
(Photo: Reuters)
Rome Mario Draghi’s end as prime minister had just been sealed when Italy switched to campaign mode. The parties don’t want to waste any time: on September 25 a new parliament will be elected.
The past few hours have shown what the country must prepare for in the coming weeks: a mixture of finger pointing, party withdrawals and the forging of new alliances. And for delays – for example in the planned deal between Lufthansa and the Italian state airline ITA Airways.
The worst hit so far is Forza Italia. Two ministers from the center-right party have resigned, with Mara Carfagna, Minister for the South, preparing for the next resignation. “You denied our history,” explained Renato Brunetta, Minister for Public Administration. Forza Italia, led by ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, was one of the three parties that failed to vote in the final confidence vote on Draghi.
It is also seething in the right-wing Lega. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, who is one of the leaders of the more moderate wing, applauded Draghi in parliament, while his party had just helped get the ex-central banker dumped. “There is no more dignified politics,” said Giorgetti. Italy has used up a “great prime minister”. These are words that Lega boss Matteo Salvini should not like. Internal party disputes, in extreme cases a split of the Lega are conceivable.
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“I am disappointed by what happened, especially as an Italian citizen,” Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio said in an interview with Corriere della Sera. Di Maio had long renounced the Five Star Movement and founded his own party, “Together for the Future”, with 60 parliamentarians.
Parliament is to shrink by a third after the new elections, meaning that all MPs will have to fight for their seats again.
(Photo: dpa)
He cannot stay with those who dropped the government with “populism and opportunism.” In the past few weeks, a new group of politicians has emerged, Di Maio explained: “Those of the irresponsible.” The Five Stars, one of the main parties in the old government, had only triggered the crisis a week ago.
Change of government could affect Ita Airways privatization
Parliament will be drastically reduced in the coming elections. Thanks to an electoral reform, there will only be 400 deputies in the chamber and 200 in the senate. So far there have been 630 deputies and 315 senators – the parliament is shrinking by more than a third. Each and every individual is once again struggling to keep their own seat.
According to the latest polls, the post-fascist party “Brothers of Italy” gets the most votes. A hair’s breadth behind is the social democratic PD, which Draghi supported to the end. Party leader Enrico Letta has already canceled the common center-left bloc with the Five Star Movement: “For us, alliances with those who dropped Draghi are impossible,” explained the ex-prime minister. “We will defend Draghi’s agenda in the election campaign.” There is already talk of a broad center alliance that will continue “in the name of Draghi”.
Draghi’s resignation could also have an impact on the privatization of the state airline Ita Airways: Until recently, it actually looked like the successor airline to the insolvent Alitalia would be taken over by the logistics group MSC and Lufthansa. Now the deal could fall victim to the crisis.
>>Read here: Commentary: Italy in distress – there is no external stability
Draghi and his team of ministers are still in office on an interim basis. But their room for maneuver is limited. Doubts could also arise on the buyer side: The Italian Ministry of Economic Affairs will retain 20 percent of the shares – and would get a position on the board. In addition, the “brothers of Italy” were always against the sale of Ita, should they actually come to power.
Internationally, thanks to Draghi are piling up: they come from Joe Biden in the White House, from Emmanuel Macron in France, from Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv: the President thanks him for “the support of Ukraine” and is convinced that the “active Support from the Italian population continues”.
More: Hello Mario! Bye reforms? What will change in Italy without Draghi