Italy: Giorgia Meloni officially succeeds Mario Draghi – Le Figaro

Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi passed the torch on Sunday to the first woman to lead a government in Italy. Historic moment this Sunday morning in Rome, when outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi passed the torch to Giorgia Meloni, the first woman to lead a government in Italy. The transfer of power took place under the gilded Palazzo Chigi, the seat of government a stone’s throw from parliament. On her arrival on the red carpet set up for the occasion, Giorgia Meloni, dressed in a black pantsuit and blouse white, inspected the guard of honor to the sound of the marching band. Visibly moved, she was greeted at the top of the stairs by Mario Draghi, who wished her “welcome” and then received her for a private conversation lasting more than an hour. symbolic by Mario Draghi to his successor of the silver bell used by the President of the Council to regulate the debates in the Council of Ministers. Under the lenses of the cameras, she waved the bell, with Mario Draghi at her side. Aged 45, Giorgia Meloni will be at the head of the most right-wing government in the country since the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946. Mario Draghi, ex-head of the European Central Bank (ECB) much appreciated on the international scene and in particular in Brussels, had been at the head of the executive since February 2021. At the end of the ceremony, he left the Chigi Palace, also parading in front of the guard of honor to the sound of the fanfare. A meeting with Macron uncertain This ceremony was to be followed by the first Council of Ministers, essentially devoted to making contact between the new ministers and to tasks of an administrative nature. It was then that serious things began for the Prime Minister, faced with many challenges, mainly economic, starting with the energy crisis, inflation and the debt, whose ratio is the highest in the euro zone after the Greece. French President Emmanuel Macron, who is going to Rome this Sunday where he will see Pope Francis and deliver a speech on peace, could be the first foreign head of state to meet Giorgia Meloni, even if no interview is planned at this stage. “Nothing is excluded”, commented on this subject the government spokesman Olivier Véran. On Saturday, the European Union, reluctant in the face of the coming to power of the radical right, said it was ready to “cooperate” with the Meloni government, a welcome marked by the congratulations of its three major institutions: Ursula von der Leyen for the European Commission, the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola. Giorgia Meloni thanked European leaders, saying she was “ready and impatient to work together”. SEE ALSO – Italy: Giorgia Meloni and her government take an oath before the Italian President