Mario Draghi announces a government to help the country's recovery

After almost two weeks of intense work, the Draghi Government, the 67th in the history of the First Italian Republic, is a reality. Last Saturday 13th, all its members, starting with Mr. Draghi himself, were sworn in during a very sober ceremony before the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and this week they will be submitted to the confidence of the Chambers. 

As it is well known, the starting point is Wednesday, February 3. On that day Draghi was summoned to the Quirinal Palace by President Mattarella and immediately accepted ( "with reservations ") the task to form a new government. The objective was to be very clear: to carry out a very efficient administration of the European funds coming from the so-called "Recovery fund", a total of 209 billion to which other new aids will be added, such as, for example, the SURE program for job creation. 

In this regard, the skill with which Draghi, a banker and economist who knows the Italian class like few others (he was governor of the Bank of Italy when he became president of the European Central Bank in 2011), acted has not gone unnoticed. Thus, he resorted to two consecutive rounds of talks with all the parliamentary groups: in the first, he secured their willingness to support his Executive, and, in the second, he managed to delimit that support and that these parliamentary groups (with the exception of Meloni's Brothers of Italy) made public a declaration of adherence to the new Government without setting a single condition.

Finally, and following the weight of each group in number of seats, the Five Star Movement has taken four ministers (included the defenestrated leader Luigi di Maio), Forza Italia, the Lega and the PD three (in the case of the center-left formation female parliamentarians of both Chambers are very angry because their three ministers are all men, so they have made public their discomfort to the party leadership), and, finally, Renzi's Italia Viva and LeU one representative each.

Thus, at first sight, the Government may seem a cession of Draghi to the political class: fifteen politicians for only eight independents. But it is just the opposite of what it seems: the political class has received the fifteen less relevant portfolios, while the important ones have gone to people trusted by Draghi or President Mattarella: Marta Cartabia, in Justice, or Lamorgese, in Interior, are people appointed by the head of State, and not by Draghi, since their function does not affect the economic field, which is the one the former president of the ECB wants to control completely. 

Among the names that have been chosen by the new prime minister, Daniele Franco, director general of the Bank of Italy, stands out above all others. Draghi knows the leadership of this institution very well and, since the governor (Ignazio Visco) is an elderly man, he has decided to appoint the latter's "right-hand man" for Economy and Finance. In addition, two new ministries have been created that are directly related to European funds: one for Ecological Transition and the other for Digital Transition. And once again, two of Draghi's men will be in charge of managing both agendas. 

Paradoxically, the only really important portfolio in the hands of a politician is that of Health, headed by the young LeU leader Roberto Speranza: he has efficiently managed the vaccination campaign, is extremely discreet and, at 41 years of age he might be a leader of the future for the battered Italian left. There was no objective reason to dismiss him, as Mario Draghi has understood.

Within the economic area, politicians have been entrusted with the two portfolios of very little importance: Labor, to be held by the Deputy Secretary General of the PD, Andrea Orlando, (who was Minister of Justice with the center-left governments of the previous legislature), and Economic Development, which has gone to Salvini's right-hand man in the Lega (Giorgetti). And it is here that there is further evidence of the skill with which Draghi has carried out this Government: there is not a single leader of the main parties in the new Executive. The only one who could assume that role is Di Maio, but he has the already former Prime Minister Conte trying to get a seat in the Lower House (the one vacated by Pier Carlo Padoan in mid-November last year) in order to start leading in a clear way a party, the Five Star Movement, which is only decomposing by the minute. Salvini, Renzi and the rest of the leaders are thus out of the Government, although in the case of the Tuscan politician and Prime Minister between 2014 and 2016 it is already a resounding triumph that Draghi is the "premier", which he has been looking for since he first raised the issue of ungovernability two months ago.

On the other hand, the most questioned ministers have dropped: Gualteri in Economy and Finance (he did not have enough entity to carry out the administration of the funds, and that was well known, beyond the fact that he has done a good overall management managing to approve two consecutive General State Budgets); Bonafede in Justice (Renzi and Salvini did not want him to be in charge of this Ministry as they consider he is the champion of "justicialism"); and Azzolina, the head of Education in a country whose school has been closed for months (the only one in the entire European Union). 

Now it will be necessary to see the response in the Parliamentary Chambers: on Wednesday, in the Upper House, and on Thursday, in the Lower House. There are only two unknowns: if Meloni and Brothers of Italy will abstain or vote against, and if finally the Five Star Movement will definitely split in two. In fact, the winning party in the March 2018 elections is very divided over the support for the Draghi government and, with the definitive departure of the young leader of this formation Alessandro di Battista (who is not a parliamentarian but continued to be affiliated to the formation), they have to decide whether to remain in the discipline of the vote or follow a Di Battista who can be a good head of the poster for the next elections, and who has shown his enormous disappointment with his already former formation, for he considers that it has completely sold out to power. There are many who think as he does, but for the moment they have only been able to leave for the Mixed Group. 

In short, Europe's third largest economy is facing a double emergency (health and economic) with a government of the highest level. It has its best man at the head of the Executive and more than two years ahead to implement the necessary reforms: the question is, of course, as happens in any non-political or independent government, how long the political forces will maintain the overwhelming support that, for the time being, they have decided to grant it. 

Pablo Martín de Santa Olalla Saludes is a professor at the ESERP Business School and author of the book Italy, 2013-2018. From chaos to hope (Líber Factory, 2018).