The Italian head of government pulls up a power play in parliament and angers the Lega. Like Forza Italia, the party wants to stay away from the vote of confidence. Scenes from a hot day.
Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi insists on his conditions in Parliament.
“Something doesn’t work there,” says Mario Draghi to an aide in parliament. A technical problem with the microphone messes up the prime minister’s much-anticipated speech in the Senate. A short moment, then it’s fixed, Draghi can finally get started.
On and off, up and down: the breakdown at the beginning of a long day symbolizes the mood in Italy. Does he stay in office? Is he going?
On Tuesday evening, after long negotiations with the party leaders, not a few observers were still convinced that Mario Draghi would continue. But already at the end of his speech on Wednesday morning they see black again. That’s probably nothing.
The “miracle of civil society”
Why? In his speech, Mario Draghi remains true to himself. He first recalled the beginnings of his government, the trust that the parties placed in him after President Sergio Mattarella gave him the task of leading the country out of the Covid 19 crisis and restarting the economy. “National unity,” he says, “was the best guarantee of the democratic legitimacy of this government and its effectiveness.” A head of government like him, who has never stood for elections, needs the broadest possible support in parliament.
The good results that the government initially achieved “were their merit,” Draghi says to the senators. The Italians contributed in their own way to this “miracle of civil society”: through the extraordinarily large participation in the national vaccination campaign, through the spontaneous willingness to take in Ukrainian refugees, through the efforts of the municipalities in implementing the projects and reforms within the framework of the EU-funded recovery plan PNRR.
But that’s it with the praise. The atmosphere in the hall is getting colder. There is only one more standing ovation: when Draghi recalls judges Falcone and Borsellino, who were murdered by the mafia thirty years ago. The mafia must be kept away from the PNRR, this is the best way to keep the memory of the two judges alive.
Apart from that, Draghi quickly makes it clear who is now responsible: the parties. Their support has waned, both on foreign policy, with growing doubts about aid to Ukraine, and on the financial situation, with calls for additional debt growing stronger. But if the government is to continue, then “a new pact of trust” is needed. “Are you ready to redesign this pact?” he asks the parliamentarians and adds: “You don’t have to answer these questions for me, but for all Italians.”
Mario Draghi’s Terms
He does not respond to the ultimatums and demands of the parties, but says the conditions under which he is prepared to continue. There are four points on which there must be agreement: first, on the implementation of the PNRR and the far-reaching reforms that it entails; second, through a social agenda designed to cushion the impact of rising energy prices and the effects of inflation; third, about an energy policy with which Italy wants to free itself from dependence on Russia; Fourth, about the country’s foreign policy and its embedding in the EU, NATO and the G-7 as well as the continuation of the Ukraine policy, including arms deliveries.
Draghi does not dress his remarks in flowery words. He talks like he always talked. Without excesses and embellishments, direct and clear. And he mercilessly shows the contradictions of the parties: You can’t demand a secure energy supply and at the same time create a mood against the construction of the necessary infrastructure, as happened, for example, in the case of the planned liquid gas terminal in Piombino.
Draghi leaves no open wound. And it is now primarily the Lega that is listening to the head of government’s remarks with increasing displeasure. For their part, the Cinque Stelle, who triggered the crisis, got off relatively lightly in Draghi’s speech. It’s as if the prime minister is sparing them because they’re already down.
Meeting at Villa Grande
In the Villa Grande, the property of opera director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, Silvio Berlusconi, who pitched his tent there, met Matteo Salvini and the leadership of the right-wing camp. Giorgia Meloni from the Fratelli d’Italia is not present. What are they hatching? new elections?
The prime minister himself, as even the last backbenchers are now realizing, doesn’t have much to lose personally. In the past few days, he has received more support from across the country than almost any politician in Italy has ever had. If the Senate doesn’t give him a vote of confidence, he can go with his head held high; if they confirm him, he’ll emerge stronger from the debates.
His speech is followed by applause, not too much, not too little, certainly not enthusiasm, then a pause, and then a boundless debate unfolds in the Palazzo Madama, seat of the Senate. One speaker after the other follows, only the otherwise eloquent representatives of the Lega and the Cinque Stelle hold back conspicuously. The senators are talking about responsibility, Responsibility, it’s the most used word on this sweltering summer afternoon. The media are in the middle their view of the stock market in Milan. What does he do spread, this thermometer that shows the attitude of investors towards Italy?
The League advances
Things finally got moving when Massimiliano Romeo, the Lega’s parliamentary group leader in the Senate, called for approval of a bill announcing the party’s support for the government – but only on the condition that the government completely renewed in terms of content and personnel becomes. In plain language: that a government will be formed without the Cinque Stelle. It is probably an attempt by the right to take action.
Is it also the beginning of the end of the Draghi government? The debate drags on, nervousness mounts, and in the evening the government leader’s reply and the first vote of confidence follow. According to the Reuters news agency, the governing parties Lega and Forza Italia have already announced that they do not want to take part in the vote.