A sigh of relief sounded this weekend in Italy and far beyond. 80-year-old incumbent President Sergio Mattarella has been persuaded to serve another term in order not to blow up Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s successful business cabinet.
‘Never change a winning team’, is how one of the regional deputies in parliament summed up the outcome. In the case of the duo Mattarella and Draghi, ‘winning’ mainly stands for the rare period of stability in the usually turbulent political landscape of Italy.
Italy desperately needs that stability after a series of ill-fated governing coalitions, in which both right-wing and left-wing populists took part. The economy, which has still not fully recovered from the global crisis of 2008 and which has been hit again by corona, is crying out for reform. Prime Minister Draghi managed to restore political confidence in a short time and set up an ambitious investment plan for which billions from the European corona fund will be spent.
So now is not the time to unleash a new political crisis, the 1,009 voters have decided in all their wisdom. If Mario Draghi had been elected president, as he himself aspired to, new elections would have been almost inevitable with the risk of yet another unstable, right-wing nationalist and above all Eurosceptic government in Europe’s third economy. This had been a disaster not only for Italy, but also for the European Union, as can be seen from the relief in the financial markets.
With this decision, Italy has bought a year of extra stability that it can use to recover from the pandemic. In the spring of 2023, elections will follow that may shake up the political landscape again. It cannot be ruled out that Draghi will then still follow in Mattarella’s footsteps to intervene at the right moments, just like him, and calm the mood.
It was Mattarella who called on Draghi when Prime Minister Conte’s government fell last year, now Draghi – despite his own ambitions – is turning the tables. Italy should be happy with these vain politicians who act in the national interest, even if they don’t feel like it at all.
The position of the newspaper is expressed in the Volkskrant Commentaar. It is created after a discussion between the commentators and the editor-in-chief.