Italy looks to "Super Mario" Draghi to end political crisis
ROME (AP) — Italy’s president is expected to ask Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank chief credited with saving the euro, to try to lead Italy through the coronavirus pandemic after last-ditch talks among squabbling politicians failed to produce a viable new coalition.
President Sergio Mattarella summoned Draghi, 73, for a noon meeting Wednesday at the Quirinale Palace. Mattarella was expected to ask Draghi to try to form a non-political government to replace caretaker Premier Giuseppe Conte’s coalition of the 5-Star Movement and Democratic Party.
Conte was forced to resign last month after ex-Premier Matteo Renzi pulled his ministers of his small, centrist Italy Alive party from Conte’s government. Renzi, whose nickname is “il rottamatore," or “the demolisher," complained among other things about Conte’s plan to spend more than 200 billion euros ( $240 billion) in EU funds and loans to help the economy recover from the pandemic.
Draghi, known as “Super Mario” for having rescued the common currency during Europe’s debt crisis, had been rumored as a possible choice to lead a non-political government if Conte was unable to find new parliamentary support.
A somber Mattarella told the nation Tuesday night that while early elections were a possible outcome and a necessary “exercise in democracy,” they were ill-advised at this crucial time in Italy’s history. Italy, with over 89,000 confirmed virus deaths, has the second-highest COVID-19 death toll in Europe after Britain. It is trying to ramp up its vaccination campaign and must report back to the EU how it plans to spend the recovery funds.
“It is therefore my duty to make an appeal to all the forces in the parliament so that they grant the confidence to a high profile government not linked to any political force,” Mattarella...
