Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced his resignation on Thursday (14), after a crisis triggered by the 5 Star Movement (M5S), one of the parties that make up the ruling coalition.
The party decided not to support a decree in the Senate that had the validity of a vote of confidence in the government. Shortly after the vote, Draghi went to the Quirinale Palace in Rome to meet with President Sergio Mattarella, the supreme arbiter of Italian politics, who decided how to resolve the imbroglio.
Afterwards, the prime minister met with the cabinet of ministers and announced his decision, which should be formalized at the presidential palace later this Thursday, according to the Italian press. The government led by the 74-year-old former head of the European Central Bank lasted just 17 months.​
Approved in Parliament by 172 votes to 39 — without the participation of M5S MPs — the confidence vote was used to expedite the release of a €17 billion package, called Aid, with measures to alleviate the impact of rising prices. of raw materials and energy.
The vote has in recent days become a focal point within Draghi’s broad coalition as his parties prepare to compete against each other in a national election scheduled for early 2023.
Led by former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, the M5S had been pushing Draghi to do more to help cushion the rising cost of living.
Draghi has said several times on previous occasions that he would not like to lead a new governing coalition or govern without M5S, which emerged as the biggest party in the previous election in 2018.
Since then, however, the acronym for anti-system ideology has suffered defections, with around 50 parliamentarians migrating to other parties, and public support lost. With the identity crisis and internal power struggles, M5S has 10% of voting intentions in the polls for the 2023 legislative elections, in fourth place, after being the preference of 34% of voters four years ago.
Former M5S leader and current Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio even founded his own party, called Juntos pelo Futuro (IPF), and is trying to gain visibility ahead of the elections.
Draghi ascended to power in February 2021, invited by President Sergio Mattarella to lead a heterogeneous coalition that brought together almost all the parties represented in Parliament, with the exception of the far-right acronym Brothers of Italy, which remained in opposition.
Its mission was to carry out the key reforms required by the European Union’s largest share of post-pandemic recovery funds, a package worth approximately €200 billion for Italy.
The government has since found itself embroiled in the war in Ukraine, in which it has taken a pro-EU line while battling rising inflation. Draghi’s support for Kiev, with arms shipments and support for EU sanctions, won a parliamentary vote of confidence in June, despite Conte’s criticism that the policy risked starting an arms race.
In his government, Draghi also dealt with the vaccination campaign against Covid-19.
