Italian president won’t accept resignation of prime minister
ROME — Italy’s golden period of stability suddenly seemed on the familiar precipice of chaos Thursday after Prime Minister Mario Draghi tendered his resignation in response to a revolt by anti-establishment populists within his broad national unity government.
But in a sign of how traumatic Draghi’s departure would be for Italy, the country’s president refused to accept his resignation, essentially freezing the political situation until next week, when Draghi will address Parliament.
The unexpected crisis and the theatrics and behind-the-scenes machinations also created a potential calamity for Europe as it seeks a united front against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and faces a wave of COVID-19 infections and an energy crisis.
On Thursday night, Italy’s politicians and analysts struggled to figure out what had happened — and what would happen next. Despite Draghi’s stated intention to resign, it remained possible that he could remain in power if key political players reject the temptation to bolt and fall back in line.
Among them is the man who triggered the revolt, former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of the Five Star Movement.
But the day’s events also made clear that the gravity of scheduled elections in early 2023 would continue to pull all the parties apart and that Draghi, who had made government unity a condition of his staying on, may yet insist on quitting.
In tendering his resignation, Draghi had said that “the majority of national unity, which supported this government since its inception, no longer exists.”
Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, “did not accept
the resignation,” according to a statement from Mattarella’s office, and instead invited Draghi to speak to Parliament in the coming days to address “the situation that has arisen.”
Most agreed that the next five days, before Draghi’s speech in Parliament to explain his reasoning, would be crucial.
“There are five more days to work so that Parliament can confirm its confidence to the Draghi government and Italy can exit the dramatic tailspin it is entering right now,” Enrico Letta, the leader of the Democratic Party, said in a Twitter post.
If Mattarella or the political parties that would like the government to continue cannot convince Draghi to stay, it would mean instability not just for Italy but for all of Europe, and at a precarious time. The European Union, of which Draghi is a fervent advocate, is struggling to keep unity in the face of the aggression in Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After Draghi took office in early 2021, when Italy’s president asked him to resolve a political crisis created by the collapse of Conte’s government, he led the country out of the worst days of the pandemic
and packed the government with highly accomplished experts who shook Italy out of its political and economic malaise.
Draghi, a titan of Europe often called Super Mario for his role in saving the euro as president of the European Central Bank, immediately boosted Italy’s international standing and investor confidence.
The promise of his steady hand at the wheel helped Italy receive about $240 billion in relief funds from Europe — a sum that gave Italy its best chance at modernization in decades.
Draghi brought moderate growth to Italy, made reforms to its justice system and tax code, streamlined Italy’s bureaucracy and found diverse sources of energy away from Russia, including renewables. Along the way, he made populism unfashionable and competence admirable, and he repositioned Italy as a reliable force for democratic values within Europe.
He also played a significant role in pushing Italy, which has often maintained a close, transactional and ambiguous relationship with Russia, into the European mainstream on questions of support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.