ROME (AP) — Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi resigned Thursday after key coalition allies boycotted a confidence vote, signaling the possibility of early elections and a renewed period of uncertainty for Italy and Europe at a critical time.
Draghi submitted his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella during a morning meeting at the Quirinale Palace. Mattarella, who rejected a similar resignation offer from the prime minister last week, “took note” of the new one and asked for Draghi’s government to remain on a temporary basis, the president’s office said.
Draghi’s government of national unity collapsed on Wednesday after members of his uneasy coalition of the right, left and populists rejected his call to reunite to complete the Italian parliament’s natural mandate and ensure the implementation of a European Union-funded program for pandemic recovery.
Instead, the center-right Forza Italia and League parties and the populist 5 Star Movement boycotted the confidence vote in the Senate, a clear sign that they are done as partners in the former European Central Bank chief’s 17-month government.
“Thank you for all the cooperation during this period,” Draghi told the lower house of parliament on Thursday morning before going to meet Mattarella. Clearly moved by the applause he received there, he repeated the joke that even central bank chiefs have hearts.
Italian newspapers on Thursday were united in their outrage at the surreal result as Italy grapples with rising inflation and energy costs, Russia’s war on Ukraine and unfinished reforms needed to attract the rest of the EU’s €200 billion in recovery funds.
“Shame,” La Stampa wrote on the front page. “Italy betrayed,” said La Repubblica. “Goodbye to the Draghi government,” said Corriere della Sera.
Mattarella chose Draghi – who earned the nickname “Super Mario” during his tenure at the European Central Bank for his “whatever it takes” rescue of the euro – as Italy’s prime minister last year. He and his unity government were tasked with pulling the country out of the pandemic and laying the groundwork for using EU recovery funds.
But the 5-Stars, the biggest vote-getter in the 2018 national election, have worried for months that their priorities on a basic income and minimum wage, among other agenda items, were being ignored. The movement also opposed Italy’s military aid to Ukraine. Last week, the 5-Stars boycotted a confidence vote on a bill aimed at helping Italians weather the cost-of-living crisis, prompting Draghi to make the first resignation offer.
Mattarella then rejected the offer and asked Draghi to return to parliament to brief lawmakers on the situation. He did so on Wednesday, urging party leaders to heed calls for unity from ordinary Italians who signed petitions asking him to stay in office.
“You don’t have to give me the answer. You must give it to all Italians,” he told MPs.
While the next steps were unclear after Draghi’s second resignation, the collapse of his ruling coalition suggested Mattarella could dissolve parliament after a consultation period, paving the way for snap elections as early as late September or early October. The legislature’s current five-year term is set to expire in 2023.
Mattarella plans to meet with the speakers of the upper and lower houses of parliament later Thursday, his office said. Such consultations usually precede Mattarella’s public statement of his intentions.
Opinion polls showed comparable percentages for the center-left Democratic Party and the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, which remained in opposition to Draghi’s coalition.
Democrat leader Enrico Letta said parliament had betrayed Italy and called on Italians to respond in the election. “Let the Italians show at the polls that they are smarter than their representatives,” he tweeted.
Italy’s Brothers have long been allied with former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s League, suggesting the center-right alliance is likely to prevail in any election and push Brothers leader Giorgia Meloni to become Italy’s first female prime minister.
Meloni, who fought for early elections even before the outbreak of the crisis, triumphed.
“The will of the people is expressed in one way: through voting. Let’s bring hope and strength back to Italy,” she said.
Some commentators have noted that Draghi’s government, which was among Ukraine’s strongest backers against Russia in Europe, collapsed in large part thanks to political leaders who previously had ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Berlusconi vacationed with Putin and considered him a friend; Salvini opposed EU sanctions against Russia after its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and 5 Star leader Giuseppe Conte opposed Italian military aid to help Ukraine defend against a Russian invasion.
After the 5-star senators boycotted the vote last week, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio accused Conte of giving Putin a gift by “presenting Draghi’s head on a silver platter”.
Perhaps coincidentally, Italian energy giant ENI said Russia’s Gazprom significantly increased its daily gas supplies to Italy on Thursday to 36 million cubic meters, up from 21 million cubic meters in recent days.
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