Government crisis - new elections on 25 September

Italy no longer has a captain. Prime Minister Mario Draghi (74) submitted his resignation on Thursday (21 July 2022). There will be early elections in the Bel Paese on 25 September. A maximally inopportune time.

The 2022 elections in Italy: Who stands for what?

In the coming weeks and months, Italy actually has to push through important reforms in order to receive the next payment of billions in EU Corona aid. In addition, the 2023 budget has to be planned in the second half of the year, which usually entails lengthy negotiations. In addition, there is the current catastrophic drought and water shortage in Italy, the exorbitant national debt, inflation, energy crisis and the Ukraine war.

mario draghi — **Mario Draghi enjoys high international reputation** (archive image)
*^{_{Photo: Karwai Tang/ UK Government}}*

The cabinet of "national unity" sworn in February 2021 is only in office on an executive basis, the parliament dissolved.

Last week, ex-ECB President Draghi had already submitted his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella (80). At that time, Mattarella had still refused to invite the non-party Draghi to exploratory talks in parliament.

The Milan stock exchange reacted to Draghi's resignation with an interim minus of two percent, and the risk premium for Italian government bonds rose.

The most important questions before the election in Italy

No agreement

EU advocate Draghi enjoys high international standing. Mayors from Florence, Milan, Naples, Rome and more than 2,000 Italian cities had urged Draghi to continue:

"Let us prove once and for all that we are a serious country," demanded Antonio Decaro (52) from Bari, for example, who heads the Italian Association of Towns and Municipalities.

roma prime minister — **The "Palazzo Chigi" in Rome: Mario Draghi resided here until recently**
*^{_{Photo: TkKurikawa/Getty Images via canva.com}}*

On Wednesday evening (20 July), Draghi had called for a pact between the parties in the Chamber of Deputies to end the crisis. Draghi received a majority, but the three big coalition parties - Lega, Five Star, Forza Italia - boycotted the vote.

Power & People: How the Italian political system works

It was only at the beginning of 2021 that Draghi, who has no party affiliation, stepped in as a government rescuer in Italy's time of need. Draghi called for national unity from left to right to overcome the crisis. At that time, the Five Star Movement, which had the most votes, had no longer achieved a majority in government.

Initially, the parties under Draghi pulled together, pushing through important reforms and securing EU billions from the Corona reconstruction aid. Last week, the Five Star Movement broke the unity: they boycotted Draghi's stimulus package, which was linked to a vote of confidence in the Senate. The bone of contention was the construction of a rubbish plant in Rome.

**Draghi only wanted to govern with broad support** (archive image)
*^{_{Photo: EU 2011 PE-EP/Pietro Naj-Oleari, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0}}*

Critics accuse the Five Star Movement of having triggered the government crisis only out of profile neurosis. While the party had more than a third of the vote at the time of the election, it had dropped to 12 per cent. Current trend: further decline.

Is Italy threatened by a shift to the right?

100 years after the fascist "March on Rome", Italy is again threatened by a shift to the right. The post-fascist opposition party "Fratelli d'Italia" is currently far ahead in the voters' favour. According to forecasts, its top brother Giorgia Meloni (45) could become Italy's first woman leader. Meloni was youth minister under Berlusconi from 2008 to 2011.

Together with the right-wing Lega and the conservative Forza Italia of former head of government Silvio Berlusconi (85), the right-wing bloc could achieve a majority in Italy. All three parties are anti-EU and friendly to Russia.

elections — **Who has the choice...**
*^{_{Photo: Martinns/Getty Images Signature via canva.com}}*

What looks harmoniously right-wing at first glance, however, harbours potential for conflict. It hardly seems conceivable that Lega leader Matteo Salvini (49) or Silvio Berlusconi would renounce the post of prime minister for reasons of ego. Even if she currently has the most votes, Giorgia Meloni still has to win internal support.

giorgia meloni — **On Instagram, Giorgia Meloni has more than 900 K followers** (7/2022)
*^{_{Photo: Screenshot Instagram}}*

Within the Lega there is a row: some local lords from the economically strong north would have liked to keep the continuity under Draghi. In Forza Italia there is criticism that Berlusconi has betrayed his own pupil, Mario Draghi. The Minister for Regional Affairs, Mariastella Gelmini, resigned from the party in protest.

In the polls, the social democratic Partito Democratico (PD) under Enrico Letta is stable and roughly on a par with the "Fratelli d'Italia". Its problem, however, is that there are currently no other parties from the centre-left that achieve sufficient votes. An absolute majority in parliament thus seems difficult.

The centre-left dreams of a return of Mario Draghi to a reform-oriented, liberal coalition. But it seems doubtful whether he would even want to...

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