The “national unity” coalition parties that support Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi have less and less time to convince him that next Wednesday, when he goes to Parliament, he announces that he is still at the head of the Government, although his resignation is more likely today.
On an official trip to Algeria to chair a strategic bilateral summit with important energy agreements, Draghi could confer irrevocable character to the resignation which was already rejected last Thursday by the head of state, Sergio Mattarella, who ordered him to appear in Parliament.
Draghi’s departure is inevitable, according to sources close to him, who assure that the former president of the European Central Bank (ECB) will not back down on his decision, taken after one of his main government partners, the 5 Star Movement (M5S), withdrew its support by not voting an important decree on aid to mitigate the effects of inflation in the Senate.
“The majority of national unity that has supported this government since its creation no longer exists and the confidence pact that based the government’s action has ended,” said Draghi when announcing his resignation, after warning that he would not govern without the M5S and despite that he continued to have the support of a comfortable parliamentary majority.
[Draghi refuerza lazos con Argelia tras lograr 4.000 millones de metros cúbicos de gas adicionales para Italia]
Although it seems unlikely that Draghi will continue, nothing is ruled out in Italian politics and the parties strive to make him change his mind, despite the little time they have and their divisions, according to local media.
The progressive Democratic Party (PD) is struggling to convince the M5S to maintain its support for the government, although the formation that triggered the crisis, far from a conciliatory mood, demands changes from Draghi among great divisions within it.
The centrist Italia Viva (IV), highly critical of the M5S, has launched an online petition in favor of Draghiwhich already has more than 80,000 signatures, while dozens of mayors have called for it to continue, as businessmen also ask and in Brussels they fear a crisis in the markets in the eurozone for months if it leaves.
The leaders of the coalition’s right-wing partners, Silvio Berlusconi of the conservative Forza Italia (FI), and Matteo Salvini, of the far-right League, They also support Draghi, but they do not see an election with bad eyes.
Both “rule out the possibility of a new government with the M5S due to its incompetence and lack of reliability” and will wait “for the evolution of the political situation, willing in any case to submit to the judgment of the citizens even in the very short term,” according to a joint note issued this Sunday.
Draghi’s resignation would almost certainly lead to the call for early electionsas requested by the only formal opposition to the Government, the ultras Brothers of Italy (FdI) of Giorgia Meloni, who has been leading all the polls for months.
So things will have to wait until Wednesday to see if by not accepting Draghi’s resignation and sending him to Parliament, Mattarella gave a margin to recompose the government majority Or did the government only maintain a few more days for the transcendental summit in Algeria.
Draghi has an intense work schedule in that country today, after the visit has been cut short by one day so that he can return to Rome tonight and prepare for his momentous appearance in Parliament.
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