Renziâs Power Play Is a âMasterpiece.â Heâll Be the First to Tell You.
With a series of maneuvers that could have made Machiavelli blush, the former prime minister gave Italy a new government. Just donât expect anyone to thank him for it.
âThis was my strategy,â said Matteo Renzi, center, who brought down Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and cleared a path for the former central banker Mario Draghi to replace him.Credit.Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press
Feb. 9, 2021
ROME â When Matteo Renzi, the former Italian prime minister currently polling at about 3 percent, triggered the collapse of the Italian government last month, he became the target of near universal opprobrium and bewilderment for plunging the country into political chaos in the middle of a pandemic.
Can the Man Who Saved the Euro Now Save Italy?
Mario Draghi has broad support as he tries to form a new government and restore Italy’s credibility and clout in Brussels. But Italian politics is a dangerous place for an enigmatic technocrat.
Mario Draghi leaving Italy’s Parliament after a meeting on Wednesday. He has accepted a mandate to become prime minister, but must now win a confidence vote.Credit.Angelo Carconi/EPA, via Shutterstock
Published Feb. 4, 2021Updated Feb. 17, 2021
ROME In the dark days of Europe’s financial crisis, Mario Draghi, then the head of the European Central Bank, famously said he would do “whatever it takes” to save the euro.
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For generations Italians have taken comfort from a saying that the political situation was critical but not serious .
With the latest political crisis, the parlous state of the country can no longer be laughed away.
After the patience of 79 year old president Sergio Mattarella snapped, Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank accepted a mandate on Wednesday to form a new government. The prime minister s designation was asked to tackle head on “the serious health, social, economic and financial emergencies” facing Italy. Mario Draghi (L) arrives at the Quirinal Palace for a meeting with President Mattarella after the former ECB head was asked to form a new government. EPA
Italy government totters ahead of â¬200bn EU covid relief Matteo Renzi is very good at making himself disliked. Some of the things he says make sense, others don t (Photo: Reuters)
Padua, 15. Jan, 07:03
Just in time to be all over the Italian evening news on Wednesday night (13 January), Matteo Renzi withdrew the two ministers of his small party, Italia Viva, Teresa Bellanova and Elena Bonetti - making official the political crisis of the government led by prime minister Giuseppe Conte.
During Wednesday s press conference, Renzi accused Conte and his government of damaging Italy s democratic institutions and of lacking any project.
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