Mario Draghi, the providential man who came last year to take the reins of the Italian government in the midst of a political crisis, should he stay in his place at the Chigi Palace for another year? Or should it be hoisted, for seven years, to the Quirinal Palace where the Presidency of the Republic sits? This dilemma, for months, agitates the Italian press, and it is followed with great attention in the European capitals, where the stability of italy is considered crucial. Starting with Paris.
At the rate of one ballot per day, the Grand Electors who designate the President of the Republic will parade from today in the Assembly Chamber. By group of 50, Covid obliges. A “drive-in” has even been installed in a small adjacent parking lot, to allow elected officials who are currently “positive” (around thirty) to vote. The electoral body is made up of 630 deputies, 321 senators and 58 representatives of the regions.
During the first three ballots, a two-thirds majority is required to be elected. Then, a simple majority is enough to win this secret ballot. Strictly speaking, there are no declared candidates, but names carried by the political parties. Which makes the presidential election more like a conclave than an open ballot. Hence the flow of calculations, pretenses, cross vetoes and negotiations which, in the land of Machiavelli, animates Italian politics.
Draghi or not Draghi ?
For the past few days, a dozen names have been circulating, more or less supported by this or that party. Should we finally elect a woman like Elisabetta Belloni (a respected diplomat, unlabeled and currently at the helm of intelligence), like Marta Cartabia (current Seal Guard and constitutionalist) or Elisabetta Casellati (President of the Senate, close to Berlusconi)?
Or choose a policy acceptable
by the other camps (the former socialist Giuliano Amato, the moderate Berlusconian Renato Brunetta, or Paolo Gentiloni, center-left European commissioner)? In the absence of a clear majority in Parliament – the reason why Mario Draghi was called as an appeal last year – the match is uncertain. Especially since the name on everyone’s lips, that of Draghi, guarantees a Europeanist and Atlanticist profile, but it poses a double problem.
Who would replace him at the head of the government when Italy must manage some 200 billion of the European recovery plan ? The financial markets have already hinted at some tremors on Italian interest rates. And if he is not elected, will he not be weakened in his place, when barely a year separates us from the next legislative elections? Answer this week.
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