Italy’s Draghi easily wins Senate backing for unity government
ROME – Premier Mario Draghi easily won a confidence vote in Parliament’s upper chamber Wednesday night after vowing to do whatever it takes to lead Italy out of the coronavirus pandemic and rebuild its economy into a more sustainable and equitable one for future generations.
The Senate voted 262-40 with two abstentions to back Draghi’s technical-political government, which he formed at the request of Italy’s president to steer Italy through the health and economic crises. A confidence vote Thursday in the lower Chamber of Deputies is also expected to give Draghi broad backing, since he has secured support from across Italy’s political spectrum.
Draghi told senators that Italy has a once-in-a-lifetime chance to rethink and rebuild the country, urging them to unite behind his government, which he vowed will be environmentally conscious, staunchly pro-European and oriented toward technological and digital reforms.
“Today, unity isn’t an option, it’s an obligation,“Draghi said to applause as he outlined his government program. “An obligation guided by what unites us all: love of Italy.”
Draghi, the former European Central Bank chief who is widely credited with having saved the euro by declaring to do “whatever it takes” during the European debt crisis, pledged a similar all-out effort to bring Italy out of the pandemic. Since the virus first erupted in Italy at this time last year, the country has reported over 94,000 deaths related to COVID-19, more than any other European country except Britain.
He said the principal aim of his administration was to confront the pandemic and save Italian lives “with all means,” including reinforcing the public health care system, bringing the civil protection and armed forces in to accelerate the nation’s vaccination campaign and ensuring that families can weather the economic fallout from lockdowns.
“The virus is the enemy of all of us,” said Draghi, 73, as he urged politicians to put aside their personal and political interests and assume the same spirit of sacrifice that their parents and grandparents took on after World War II.
The premier said Italy had an opportunity not seen since then to rebuild the country from the ground up using the more than 200 billion euros ($241.2 billion) in European Union recovery funds. Draghi said his government would be “convincingly” pro-EU and pro-U.S., and that he envisaged reinforcing bilateral relations with France and Germany, in particular.
It was a marked shift from the 5-Star-led government of Premier Giuseppe Conte, which in 2019 became the first Group of Seven nation to join China’s ambitions Belt and Road development initiative.
Draghi’s government was sworn in over the weekend, capping a remarkable few weeks that saw Conte, Italy’s popular premier since June 2018, resign after a key ally yanked his support over Conte’s pandemic response.