By Silvia Marchetti
ROME (MaceNews) – Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi will likely have a broad majority to form a new government following support from his usual opponents but he faces a big challenge to define a shared program and set up a technocrat-political cabinet, according to political sources.
Draghi received statements of “open availability” from the two largest parties sitting in parliament: the 5 Stars Movement, part of the outgoing ruling coalition, and the opposition League group, both always critical of Draghi’s ECB leadership and traditionally euro-skeptic. The 5 Stars softened their initial hard stance of not voting for a technocrat figure.
The first round of party talks that ended on Saturday will be followed by a shorter second round on Monday and Tuesday, which according to sources, will be key to vet a shared program. Draghi is also expected to meet with trade unions and industrial lobbies before reporting back to head of state Sergio Mattarella and formally announcing whether he accepts to lead a new cabinet.
Sources noted that while most parties have expressed support to Draghi to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and define a clear plan to deploy direct European aid quickly, coming days will be crucial in pinpointing a common agenda able to satisfy the different parties.
The only party to openly state its ‘no’ to voting for Draghi in parliament is the right-wing Brothers of Italy group, while another minor centrist party has voiced concerns over how feasible a potential alliance between opposing political forces actually is in the long run.
“Draghi so far has listened to all parties and seen the extent of their support — nearly all parties are on board with him to jointly defeat the pandemic and deploy EU aid, but now we need to get down to the program and Draghi will have to pinpoint some kind of framework agreement that satisfies everyone,” said a ruling coalition source close to negotiations.
There’s also another thorny issue that could complicate Draghi’s hard task next week: the nature of his future government, whether it would be fully technocratic or rather a mix between political and technocrat. Opposition sources said that in order to involve groups such as the League and the 5 Stars, Draghi might have to come up with ‘hybrid’ of a high-level team of politicians and experts.
Another ruling coalition source stressed that the definition of a shared program was more important than what kind of cabinet Italy will next have as long as the targets highlighted by Mattarella were fully met in the best way possible.
“If any party stamps its feet saying no to Draghi’s program, no matter how generic it might be at first, it will be like saying no to the head of state and that party will be forever responsible for Italy’s downfall,” said the official.
On Wednesday, Mattarella handed Draghi the mandate to form a new cabinet with two top priorities: tackling the pandemic emergency and defining a plan to deploy EU aid before Italy lost the opportunity to use some EUR200 billion.
Draghi’s draft program will need to be comprehensive enough for parties to overcome reciprocal mistrust. The Democrats have issues in sharing power with the League, while the League mistrusts the 5 Stars, the former allies with whom it attempted to rule jointly in 2018 and failed.
On Wednesday, Draghi said he was confident that “unity” will emerge in talks among political parties and he will be able to respond positively to Mattarella’s urgent call to rescue the country and relaunch the economy.
Last week, following the collapse of the alliance between the Democrats, the 5 Stars and the minor Italia Viva party of former premier Matteo Renzi, Mattarella appealed to all political forces to overcome divergencies and join forces in a national unity, high-level government able to steer the country out of the current crisis. He said the next cabinet had to be supported by a wide enough majority but at the same time should “not have any political color.”
If Draghi succeeds in his initial task, he will be required to face a confidence vote in parliament before his cabinet is fully operative. It is unlikely the second round of party talks will prove unsuccessful despite party divergencies over a shared cabinet and agenda, but there is still a minimal risk of failure in which case Draghi will have to turn down Mattarella’s mandate, which would trigger an early vote.