by Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced his resignation on Thursday, taking note of the split in the government coalition after the Five Star Movement (M5S) boycotted a vote of confidence on a text in the Senate, a resignation, however, refused by the President of the Republic.
Sergio Mattarella refused the resignation of Mario Draghi, 74, and asked the latter to address Parliament to assess the political situation, the presidency in Rome said in a statement.
We do not know immediately how the former boss of the European Central Bank (ECB) will react to the intervention of the President of the Republic, arbiter of the political game in Italy.
In the afternoon, after the de facto secession of the M5S, Mario Draghi went to the Quirinal for an interview with Sergio Mattarella. The former president of the European Central Bank (ECB) had returned to his offices without a word, after an hour of discussion.
“I will submit my resignation this evening to the President of the Republic,” he announced in a press release published later. “The coalition of national unity which supported the government no longer exists”, underlined the one who has been in power in Rome since February 2021 and has always refused a purely “political” mandate.
Italy is once again plunged into a political crisis, triggered by the decision of the M5S of Giuseppe Conte – the predecessor of Mario Draghi at the head of the government – not to participate in the day in the Senate in a vote of confidence requested by the executive to accelerate the examination of a decree-law providing for some 23 billion euros in aid to households and businesses in the face of inflation.
Giuseppe Conte called on the government to do more to tackle the social problems of the eurozone’s third-largest economy and help families cope with soaring prices, caused in part by the war in Ukraine.
If the vote of confidence in the upper house was won by 172 votes against 39, Mario Draghi had warned that he would not govern without the M5S, which became the first political force in Parliament in favor of the general elections of March 2018 before see his popularity rating erode.
Sergio Mattarella can try to convince Mario Draghi to form a new government, appoint an interim President of the Council until the legislative elections scheduled for May 2023, or decide on early elections in the fall – an unusual prospect in Italy, this period serving traditionally to prepare the complex draft budget.
(Report Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante, with Gavin Jones; French version Dagmarah Mackos and Sophie Louet, edited by Jean Terzian)