Mario Draghi has chosen to resign. At 18.45, shortly after the beginning of the council of ministers, the Premier dissolved all doubts and put an end to the "reflections" that had been discussed throughout the afternoon. A few minutes later Draghi went up to the Quirinale and made his decision official, but the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, said refused the resignation, postponing everything until Wednesday, when Draghi will appear in the Chambers.
The resignation of Mario Draghi
“I want to announce to you that I will tender my resignation tonight in the hands of the President of the Republic,” Draghi told his ministers. 17 months after his inauguration, the adventure of the former president of the European central bank at Palazzo Chigi can be considered concluded.
“Today's votes in Parliament – he said – are a very significant event from a political point of view. The majority of national unity that has supported this Government since its creation is no more. The pact of trust has failed at the basis of government action”, said the Premier after the decision of the 5 Star Movement not to vote for confidence in the Senate placed by the Government on the Aid Decree. In any case, the Executive obtained confidence with 172 yes and 39 against, so formally he could have continued his mandate, but the exit from the Chamber of pentastellati senators and the interventions during the discussion in the Chamber (first of all the very harsh one by the parent company of the M5S Castellone) prompted the Premier to take a step back.
At the end of the meeting, the Prime Minister will therefore go up to the Quirinale and will hand in his resignation to the Head of State Sergio Mattarella, while on Wednesday he will speak to the Chambers to take leave. Pressure from the President of the Republic, some members of his government and the leaders of the majority parties did not help.
“Since my inaugural speech in Parliament – continued Draghi – I have always said that this Executive would only go ahead if there was a clear prospect of be able to implement the government programme on which the political forces had voted their confidence. This compactness has been fundamental in facing the challenges of recent months. These conditions no longer exist today“. Peremptory words that do not seem to leave room for any rethinking, nor for actions of moral suasion by the Quirinale and the parties.
“Thank you for your work, the many results achieved. We must be proud of what we have achieved, in a very difficult moment, in the interest of all Italians”, concluded Draghi.
Mattarella rejects Draghi's resignation
“The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, received this evening at the Quirinale Palace the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, who resigned from the government he presided over. The head of state did not accept the resignation and invited the Prime Minister to present himself to Parliament to make communications, so that it is carried out, in his own office, an assessment of the situation which was determined following the results of the session held today in the Senate of the Republic". This is what we read in a note released in the evening by the Quirinale.
Mattarella's however, it could be a temporary "no". A decision taken not only to allow Draghi to report to the Chambers on Wednesday and try to see if there is room for moving forward, but also to allow the Government to respect the institutional commitments set for some time. First of all the intergovernmental summit in Algeria on 18 and 19 July, essential for making new gas agreements that could not be signed by a resigning prime minister.
Party reactions
"Draghi did well, respecting the institutions: nothing is ignored after today's vote," he wrote. Matteo Renzi on Twitter a few minutes after Draghi announced his resignation. “The grillini have hurt the country once again. We work for a Draghi-Bis from now to the next few months to finish the work on the PNRR, the budget law and the Ukrainian situation ", concluded the leader of Italia Viva.
"There are now five days to work for Parliament to confirm its trust in the Draghi government and for Italy to emerge as quickly as possible from the dramatic spiral it is entering in these hours", he declared Enrico Letta which will try to see if it will be possible to recreate the current majority and therefore a government that also includes the 5 Star Movement.
“Wednesday will be the decisive day, not today. In Parliament, in the light of the sun, all political forces will have to tell the Italians what they intend to do", said the minister of culture, Dario Franceschini.
Through a note, the League let it be known that: "We have been loyal, constructive and generous for a year and a half, but for weeks President Draghi and Italy were victims of too many No's from the 5 Star Movement and the ideological forcing of the Democratic Party. The League, united and united even after today's numerous meetings, shares concern for the fate of the country: it is unthinkable that Italy should suffer weeks of paralysis in a dramatic moment like this, no one should be afraid to give the floor Italians".
He calls (obviously) early elections Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, the only opposition party. “We don't accept jokes, this legislature for the Brothers of Italy is over and we will fight for the freedom to choose to be restored to citizens,” Meloni said at an event in Palombara Sabina.
