Italy ponders a new role for Draghi. Let the politicking begin.
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
Just a few months ago at an international summit in Rome, President Joe Biden privately told Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy that when it came to showing that democracies can function well, “You are doing it.” For good measure, he added, according to a person in the room, the Italian had a “hell of a political operation.” Since taking office last February, Draghi has stabilized Italy’s volatile politics, made populism unfashionable, and assured international markets with long-sought overhauls and tough coronavirus measures. He has turned a nation whose political chaos has often prompted derision into a leader on the European stage and imbued Italians with a renewed sense of pride and steadiness. But suddenly Italians are facing the prospect that Draghi — formerly the president of the European Central Bank and widely credited with saving the euro — could exit as prime minister. Starting Jan. 24, Italian lawmakers vote for a new seven-year president, an influential but often ceremonial role that Draghi is widely understood to covet. But the uncertainly around Draghi’s future has already unleashed pent-up political machinations and ambitions, pushing Italy back toward a dangerous.“It would be a shame if we miss this opportunity” by losing Draghi’s leadership when key overhauls are being put in place and Italy has a chance to become a leader in Europe, said Vittorio Colao, Italy’s minister for technological innovation and digital transition who is a former chief executive of the telecoms group Vodafone and a close ally of Draghi. Draghi took power as a caretaker prime minister amid a political crisis in February 2021, when he was chosen by the current president, Sergio Mattarella. Having that money in the hands of Draghi has reassured global markets and European Union leaders and given Italy its best shot at modernization in decades. But while some worry about diminishing his potential successor by essentially crowning Draghi king, others are more concerned about removing him from the levers of power and negotiations at the European level when there is so much money on the table. The secrecy, and self-interested nature, of the vote makes it ripe for influence peddling. In recent days, opening gambits took the form of government-collapsing ultimatums, with Berlusconi saying that he would pull his party out of government if Draghi became president. Draghi, no political neophyte, has added his own pressure, asking the political parties if it was at all imaginable for a government that splinters on the choice of a president — be it him or anyone else — to “come back together magically” to run the country. “There is a lot of noise in the system because of this presidential race,” Colao said, nevertheless acknowledging that political pressure had “on the margins” increased the urgency of getting modernizing projects into the pipeline. As a result, they are strongly interested in a president who would ensure more time in office. Berlusconi has promised not to allow elections until 2023.But for Italy’s prosperity, Draghi’s supporters argue that he needs to stay on center stage, one way or another.“I am convinced,” Colao said, “that the orchestra and the director have indicated that there is a different way of approaching things.”