The still Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, has spent a weekend of meditation in his house on the Roman coast. He is preparing his speech on Wednesday in Parliament, where he will have to decide whether to resign again before Sergio Mattarella or continue to lead Italy. But also attending the many calls, messages and signs of affection from European leaders. He has spoken with Emmanuel Macron, with Olaf Scholz, with the Greek Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, with the Portuguese António Costa or with the Dutch Mark Rutte, among others. He has also communicated with the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez.
"The skin of the bear is not sold before hunting it," Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy, said yesterday, asked by the party in Moscow if Draghi leaves. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has commented that President Joe Biden has "great respect and consideration" for Draghi. "With leaders like Draghi we will win this terrible war," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. The Financial Times has published an editorial where it assures that Italy still needs Mario Draghi.
The pressure also comes from Italy. More than a thousand mayors – among them those of Rome, Milan, Venice or Florence – have signed a manifesto to demand that Draghi not leave because it is too important that he continue with the recovery plan. The same associations of businessmen, doctors, professors, paid advertisements in the newspapers or university rectors.
The former president of the European Central Bank is moved by the outcry. The hope of many is that he will soften him up. But, according to sources from Palacio Chigi, seat of the Executive, the still premier thinks the same as on Thursday. In other words, the only way to continue is for there to be a notable change in the climate of the political parties so that he has his hands free to carry out the program of his investiture. He can rule, or leave. The priorities are to continue with the implementation of the recovery plan, approve next year's budgets and manage the difficult international situation created by the war in Ukraine, including the energy crisis that Italy will experience if Russia turns off the gas tap. Just yesterday he went to Algeria to prop up gas at a bilateral summit.
Regarding the change in political parties, time passes but the mess is not resolved. The 5 Star Movement (M5E), the party that caused the crisis by absenting itself from a confidence vote that was linked to a decree on measures against inflation, has been involved in uninterrupted meetings for days and is on the verge of another implosion among the sector that asks for continue in the Government and the supporters of slamming the door and leaving. A group of MPs is ready to turn its back on Giuseppe Conte and maintain support for Draghi on Wednesday in Parliament. Nerves are on edge. Senator Giulia Lupo is accusing some members of being double agents. "There is a climate of witch hunts," a parliamentarian told the AdnKronos agency.
The situation is so serious that Silvio Berlusconi has left Sardinia to negotiate directly from Rome. Officially, both his Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini's League maintain that they will not participate in another government with the M5E for "not being trustworthy." But if Draghi rethinks it, they would have a hard time telling their inflation-worried voters in the north that they are going to leave him in the lurch. Enrico Letta's Democratic Party is mobilized to continue. Matteo Renzi, the most Machiavellian of all Italian politicians, bets that Draghi will continue: "If he doesn't change his mind, Italy and Europe will be weaker and I will understand the Russian enthusiasm," he told correspondents in Rome.
