Draghi shows his mettle to the European Union

It seems clear that a new stage has begun in relations between Italy and the European Union. This is because the Italian government is now headed by one of the most prestigious figures in the world's financial and economic world, rather than a low-level or minimally relevant politician. This is becoming clear during his first weeks as President of the Italian Council of Ministers. And the EU authorities are certainly beginning to suffer the consequences. The truth is that Draghi is not at all happy with the way the European Union is acting and does not intend to allow it to operate in the same crude way the EU authorities do. Evidence of this is the fact that a few weeks ago he unceremoniously berated the President of the Commission (the German Von der Leyen) over the AstraZeneca vaccine and now he has gone straight to a serious warning: either we start to act differently, or his government will start to go it alone. There is a lot of money at stake, the eurozone's third largest economy is more indebted than ever and it is only a matter of time before economic activity does not pick up again because the EU bureaucracy continues to act at a pace unacceptable in the current dire situation.

It should be noted that Draghi is a very powerful person; due to his years at the helm of the European Central Bank (2011-2019), he forged such an agenda of contacts that he has much more influence than he is given credit for. For example, Christine Lagarde, the ECB's successor, regularly consults him on how to manage this institution because she is a lawyer and not an economist or banker, so there are significant gaps that Draghi helps her to fill. Not only Lagarde, but also many investors, rating agencies and credit rating agencies ask him for advice.

Draghi also knows that this is the right time for him to lead the European Union. The CDU, the party in power in Germany for three decades, whether on its own, in a "grand coalition" or with the Liberals, is leaderless and has just suffered its first two electoral defeats in the elections to the government of two 'lands'. In France, Macron is suffering the effects of four years at the helm of the Republican presidency and is beginning to work on a very possible presidential re-election, as elections have been called for May 2022. Not to mention Spain, the other major European economy in the so-called 'big four': the writer of these lines does not even want to think about the first conversations that Draghi might have with Pedro Sánchez. While the former has a PhD in Economics from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States), Sánchez has a PhD from a private university that hardly anyone knows about (we'd better not mention it) and his doctoral thesis, although it is not really plagiarism, is embarrassing. Indeed, Sánchez took it upon himself to leave it on deposit at this university so that only those he granted permission could consult it, without knowing that one of the members of the examining board would end up giving it to the press, which is what finally happened. This generated astonishment among the Spanish population as to the real qualifications of the country's second highest authority.

Draghi, on the other hand, knows perfectly well what he has to do and his prestige is basically at stake. He has won the parliamentary support of all the important forces and has formed what we could call the "government of the best". As a statesman, he is probably not worried about not becoming President of the Republic: he will not leave the presidency of the Council of Ministers until the economy is more than back on track, and for that he may need to exhaust the legislature, for which there are almost two full years left.

This discreet but determined prime minister knows that he has a unique opportunity to turn the country's problems around. And if the European Union continues to act with the same parsimony as it has done so far, he is not to be counted on. Hence his reminder that, however much the AstraZeneca vaccine was questioned, his own son, who lives in the UK, has already been vaccinated, and he, who will soon have to do the same (remember that he is already 73 years old), will not think twice about it (President Mattarella, by the way, has already been vaccinated by AstraZeneca). And if the Russian vaccine (the so-called Sputnik) has to be used, he will do so without hesitation.

The goal is clear: in a matter of weeks 500,000 Italians per month should be vaccinated, and 80% of the population should be immunised by the summer. And it will do so with or without the help of the European Union. The question now is easy to guess: who among the EU leaders dares to contradict Draghi? Absolutely no one. Because the only one who can do so, who is none other than the Dutchman Mark Rutte, recent winner of the general elections in the Netherlands, leads a country that has around 27% of the population of Italy, and whose economy is around 20% of Italy's. So not even Rutte dares to challenge Draghi. So not even Rutte will dare to contradict him. Draghi has decided to pull out all the stops, the result of an extraordinary career both in the private world of finance and in Italian and European institutions.

A new era has certainly begun. The eurozone's third largest economy is now governed by the best, surrounded by the best (Cingolani, Cartabia, etc.) and, as long as parliamentary support is maintained, Draghi will gradually lead a European Union that has not yet emerged from the so-called "health emergency" but is already suffering the consequences of the "economic emergency". In the case of Italy, citizens can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Thanks to two Christian Democrats (Mattarella and Renzi, the latter bringing down the previous government and the former commissioning Draghi to form the next one), he was able to become prime minister. And now he will be the one to decide what should be done without the slightest hindrance to his work. Why shouldn't we do the same in our country when we have people with the same level of preparation? A "domanda" that is certainly difficult to answer: the harsh reality is that, for the moment, that is what we have to do. Fortunate on this occasion, of course, the Italians.

Pablo Martín de Santa Olalla Saludes is a professor of European History at the ESERP University Centre and author of the book 'Italia, 2018-2023. Del caos a la esperanza' (Madrid, Liber Factory, 2018).