Update: Italian Premier Mario Draghi resigned Thursday after key coalition allies boycotted a confidence vote, signaling the likelihood of an early election, possibly as soon as September, and a renewed period of uncertainty for Italy and Europe at a critical time, the AP reports. Draghi tendered his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella, who had rejected a similar resignation offer last week. Mattarella "took note" this time around and asked Draghi’s government to remain on in a caretaker fashion, the president's office said. Draghi's government of national unity imploded Wednesday after members of his uneasy coalition of right, left, and populists rebuffed his appeal to band back together to finish the legislature’s natural term. Our story from July 14 follows:
Italian Premier Mario Draghi has told his Cabinet he will offer his resignation to the nation's president, following the refusal of a populist coalition ally to support a key government bill. “The majority of national unity that has sustained this government from its creation doesn’t exist any more," Draghi said in a statement, per the AP. It will be up to Italian President Sergio Mattarella to accept or reject the resignation. The president could also ask Draghi to go before Parliament in the coming days to seek a formal vote on the government itself, to see if the squabbling allies would rally around him.
But if the government crisis can’t be resolved quickly, Mattarella could pull the plug on Parliament, setting the stage for an early election as soon as September. As of now, Parliament’s term expires in spring 2023. Hours earlier, Draghi and his pandemic unity government won a confidence vote, 172-39, in the Senate despite the refusal by the populist 5-Star Movement to back the bill, which earmarks $26 billion to help consumers and industries struggling with soaring energy prices. But the snub, orchestrated by 5-Star leader Giuseppe Conte, Draghi's predecessor, had already done its damage.
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Draghi's broad coalition was designed to help Italy recover from the coronavirus pandemic, and included parties from both the left and the right. He noted he had made clear when he took office in February 2021 that his government “would only have gone forward if there was the clear prospective to be able to realize the government program” that was the basis of the governing coalition. "That compactness has been fundamental to face the challenges of these months. This conditions don't exist any more,'' the premier said. Prior to all this, Draghi had been a "rare unifying force in Italy's politics," per the Washington Post.
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