This week begins the decisive round for the Draghi government. The immediate reactions of the markets (Stock market up, spread down) and that of public opinion push towards a positive conclusion of the ongoing confrontation. But some signals that come from the political forces let us glimpse difficulty to overcome in the final stretch of the complex process that will have to lead to the birth of the new Executive.
And yet the line followed by the Quirinale to resolve the crisis opened by the resignation of the Conte government was very clear. The President of the Republic has entrusted an exploration to the Speaker of the Chamber, Roberto Fico, who carried out this mandate in a way - in the words of Sergio Mattarella - "committed, serious and impartial" and certified that the re-proposition of the team that had just resigned was not concretely achievable. For the Head of State, therefore, the alternative emerged between the early dissolution of the Chambers or promoting the birth of a different government.
Ma new elections, which are certainly the fundamental exercise of a democracy, have appeared in the current situation an impassable road. Sending them quickly, in fact, would have inevitably translated - as Mattarella pointed out with extreme precision on February 2 - in a heavy reduction in the Government's activity at a crucial moment and therefore in serious damage to the country. Italy, for many months, would have been weaker in the fight against the pandemic and would have jeopardized access to and effective use of the European funds essential to win this war and to repair the social and economic damage that the virus has caused caused.
Hence the appeal, made by the President to all political forces, to trust a government capable of dealing with the emergency that has been besieging us for a year now. For such a government, Mattarella has established two precise characteristics: being of a "high profile" and not identifying "with any political formula" and has identified in Mario Draghi the most suitable personality to try his hand at its constitution. Clear and stringent arguments, therefore, which in fact have met with widespread consensus among citizens, as evidenced by numerous polls.
In the world of parties, on the other hand, there has been no lack of bewilderment and ill-concealed distrust: a disturbing sign that some leaders have not yet fully understood how dramatic the condition of Italy is today. Furthermore, many words have been spent on thethe need for the executive to be created to be political. Among those most determined to advance this claim was the outgoing Prime Minister. This is a rather singular aspect given that Giuseppe Conte made his debut on the public scene qualifying himself as "people's advocate": an approach that signaled the aspiration to mark his distance from politics.
In any case, a government, when it is born, is by definition political: not on the basis of its composition, but on the basis of the functions it is called to exercise in the manner prescribed by the Constitution. On the other hand, if the Draghi government has a rapid take-off, as is to be hoped, it will produce very profound effects on the political system. On the one hand, it will ruthlessly highlight the difficulty this system still encounters in the search for a reliable point of equilibrium, despite many modifications in its structures; on the other hand, the connotation of extraordinary nature that will inevitably mark the new Executive will be able to contribute, as it is supported by a large majority and invested with the pre-eminent task of facing well-defined commitments, to create a more constructive and useful climate for the country.
A climate – wanting to give in to optimism for a moment – in which the parliament could finally devote himself to tasks of his specific competence: a new electoral law and the definition of those "counterweights" which he undertook to prepare in view of the reduction in the number of senators and deputies sanctioned by a constitutional reform launched without too much calculating the effects it could have on the country's democratic future.
°°°° The author was deputy director of Il Sole 24 Ore and senator of the Democrats of the Left
