Support increases for Draghi’s continuity as Italian Prime Minister in the midst of a political storm

The pressures for the crisis of the Italian Government to be resolved with the continuity of Prime Minister Mario Draghi increased this Monday by hundreds of mayors and all kinds of associations, fearful of economic and social uncertainty, while the coalition parties continue faced. Italy starts the hottest week of the year not only from the meteorological point of view, but also political: on Wednesday Draghi will clarify in Parliament if he finally consummates his resignation, “frozen” by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. Prime Minister, in office since February 2021, decided to resign after the 5 Star Movement (M5S) did not vote on a confidence motion, distancing himself from his coalition of national unity, which includes all but the far-right Fratelli d’ Italy, led by Giorgia Meloni. But Mattarella, arbiter of national politics, stopped the crisis until this Wednesday: first because Draghi must do in Parliament, and then so that he could travel to Algeria this Tuesday to ask for more gas. Draghi, supported by all And it is that a possible resignation would most likely lead to an early election in the midst of an inflationary wave unprecedented since 1986 and would interrupt the reforms that accompany the millionaire disbursements of the European Recovery Plan. Draghi retracts and exhausts the legislature in March 2023, they do not stop growing. Dozens of organizations of all kinds have signed all kinds of manifestos to demand their continuity and express their concern about the current situation. Among the signatories are associations of rectors, teachers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and even veterinarians, as well as environmental entities, anti-mafia or of all political color. Trade unions and employers have come together to demand “a strong government” and the Italian Episcopal Conference has called for “stability” through the mouth of its president, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi. While on Sunday, more than a thousand mayors, including the from Rome, Milan, Florence, Turin or Genoa (north), joined a joint request for political stability. The moment of truth Draghi, determined to consummate his resignation, will be able to meditate until Wednesday, when he is expected in the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate to present the reasons for his resignation. And he will surely revalidate what he said to his ministers: the “confidence pact” sealed at the beginning of his Government has vanished. Well, he agreed to govern with the support of all -or almost all- the hemicycle and the check of the M5S is unacceptable. To date the methodology to be followed was unknown, if for example there would be some type of vote that would reveal the support he has in Parliament, but today it was learned that after his speech a motion of confidence will be voted on in both chambers. The parties will thus clarify whether they maintain their support for him. For now, as always, the only clear “no” is that of Giorgia Meloni’s ultras, alone in the opposition and already the country’s leading force in the polls. The coalition, increasingly relaxed Meanwhile, the parties that supported him in the power have entrenched themselves in increasingly distant positions. The progressive Democratic Party believes that the government should continue with the same composition, while Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s far-right Liga believe that the M5S should be excluded. The leader of the centrist Italia Viva, Matteo Renzi, also supported the prime minister at the headquarters of the Foreign Press in Rome, believing that “no one in Italy or in Brussels is interested” in a weak government at the head of the third power of the euro. Knives to Five Stars At the same time, the leader of the M5S, Giuseppe Conte, after provoking this crisis in the middle of summer, tries to mediate within his party, severely divided between the supporters of sec governing and those who would prefer to be in the opposition. The conclave at the Five Star has lasted for forty hours, with occasional breaks and in the midst of repeated quarrels, with parliamentarians connecting from the beach or accusing their colleagues from other currents of treason , according to the press. The disagreements between Draghi and Conte have been “in crescendo” in recent times, firstly because of the latter’s refusal to continue arming the Ukrainian resistance and then because of criticism of a decree with aid against inflation that he saw insufficient. Now, the crossroads of the M5S marks two paths, both uncertain: take a step back and once again reach out to the Government at this tricky moment or provoke the final slam of the door to try to reconquer the electorate lost before the general elections. In both cases, the Five Stars, winner of the 2018 general elections, will appear decimated by the splits and exhausted given their repeated electoral blows.