Mario Draghi also experienced the short-lived nature of Italian politics. The country is obsessed with elections, making governing impossible.
Mario Draghi’s government is history, the third in just one legislative period.
as Romano Prodi In 1996, when he became Italian head of government for the first time, he made an inaugural visit to Helmut Kohl. The two politicians hit it off immediately and the meeting lasted much longer than planned. “It was a very pleasant conversation,” said Kohl to Prodi on leaving – to ask laconically: “And who’s coming next time?” In his autobiography, Prodi recalls that Kohl clearly showed him the chronic instability of the Italian government.
So now Mario Draghi has got it. He too was not destined to have a long tenure. A full seventeen months have passed since President Sergio Mattarella appointed him to the post and formed a government of national unity. The short-lived nature of Italian politics has caught up with him too, the high-flyer. It’s the norm in Italy.
The inexorable law of technocrat governments
“Technical” governments, those that are led by non-politicians to deal with an acute crisis and have broad political support for this, seem to have a particularly difficult time staying in office and with dignity. «Even Draghi, the most brilliant Italian we had, paid the price for the inexorable law of national unity governments», stated Antonio Polito in the «Corriere della Sera». Draghi’s government was the third in just one legislature.
The Italian parties, it seems, have very little patience. In other words, they are more interested in competing for power than in exercising it. It’s a kind of “obsession with elections that makes governing impossible,” says one commentator formulated in the daily newspaper «Domani». The problem has become even more acute in the recent past with the emergence of the populists of the Lega and the Cinque Stelle. These parties thrive on constant protest and rebellion. Their leaders are more adept at stirring up conflict than they are at the art of governing.
They obviously struggled with the fact that there was little to criticize under Mario Draghi. Because the former President of the European Central Bank did a lot of things right, as his critics also attest: He understood how to draw up a precise plan for the use of the funds from the European recovery fund and then to stick to it – which calmed the EU down a lot ; the vaccination program that he entrusted to a general in the armed forces was a major success in international comparison; his performances on the European stage have earned him respect.
Draghi was instrumental in giving Ukraine a prospect of EU membership and was one of the first to draw attention to the looming food emergency as a result of the war. It is no exaggeration to say that he has put his country back on the world stage.
The populists are forcing Draghi into sideshows
He didn’t fail because of his work. Even a Matteo Salvini or a Giuseppe Conte would have found it difficult to criticize Draghi for these achievements. The government has run aground in other arenas. There were polemics, for example, about the construction of an urgently needed waste incineration plant for the Italian capital or about the awarding of beach concessions or about new rules for the taxi trade – small political beasts, but they messed up quite a bit. Here the populists could let off steam, here they thought they could raise their profile as members of the governing coalition. But the constant negotiation in these areas has drained a lot of energy and strained Draghi’s patience. He feared that his reforms would not succeed.
His reforms: That’s why Giuseppe Conte wanted to keep him in the Palazzo Chigi, the seat of the head of government – at the time when it was being discussed whether Draghi should succeed Sergio Mattarella in the state presidency. Months later, all that is forgotten: Conte of all people was now responsible for Draghi being sent into the desert. It’s paradoxical.
Political operations remained alien to the head of government
Mario Draghi was a “technician”, someone who was unfamiliar with politics and who never intended to delve into the depths of party disputes. It is no coincidence that during his much applauded brief appearance in the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday, he probably unconsciously reminded that at heart he remained a central banker. “Even the hearts of bankers get used sometimes,” he told MPs, clearly touched by the standing ovation he received.
Like all populists in the world, Lega and Cinque Stelle are used to ranting about the classe politique. But they accused him of all people, the non-politician, the one who didn’t belong, of not having played by the rules of the game. That too is paradoxical. No politician in Italy would have resigned after winning a confidence vote twice, as Draghi did.
I like Draghi’s method
In Draghi’s brief tenure, many Italians have taken a liking to his way of governing, not just the businessmen, rectors and representatives of the big associations. Still a bit hesitant, but clearly they had demonstrated for him in the days before the showdown on the piazzas of the big cities, normal people, those who “want to get ahead and feed a family”, as one participant put it.
“For the first time we can be proud of a politician, why do you want to get rid of him?” asked an angry speaker on Monday evening in Piazza San Silvestro in Rome’s city center. Many have had enough of the self-promoters and smartasses that abound in Italy’s politics. They want to be governed properly. Whether this will result in a political movement is uncertain. Mario Draghi himself will not make himself available for this.
The forgetfulness of Italy
Nevertheless, he will leave his mark. After his departure, Italy’s party system is about to be cleaned up. The Cinque Stelle have exhausted themselves in this legislature, which began with their brilliant election victory in 2018. It’s hard to imagine that they’ll be able to recover any time soon, especially as they – like the parties of Silvio Berlusconi and Salvini – first have to sort out their considerable internal differences.
The centre-left camp around the Partito Democratico (PD) is probably too small to be able to form the next government. The PD no longer wants to work with the Cinque Stelle after they helped bring down the head of government.
Finally, the right will have to regroup. Berlusconi and Salvini did not emerge unscathed from the dispute over Mario Draghi. It is conceivable that they will join forces to counteract Fratelli d’Italia’s Giorgia Meloni. Their rise seems unstoppable.
Political augurs and professional observers will undoubtedly get their money’s worth in the coming weeks. You shouldn’t ignore one typically Italian quality: “Italy forgets everything,” Roberto Saviano, writer and journalist, once wrote about his country. “It forgets, it can be bought, it can be seduced, it falls in love and is immediately betrayed, but it doesn’t stop falling in love.” According to Saviano, this forbearance makes Italy sympathetic, “but it is also the reason why this country never seriously cleans up with its old mistakes”.