The Italian president is turning to Mario Draghi to help resolve the political crisis

It is unclear whether a majority in the Italian Parliament would support Mr Draghi as prime minister, even if the former president of the European Central Bank says he wants the job. If a viable coalition emerges for Mr. Draghi to lead, his most urgent tasks would include formulating a strategy for the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

All of Europe has a stake in Italy’s economic fortunes, given the country’s rampant national debt and the mixed feelings of its electorates lately about the European Union and the euro. Germany and other EU members agreed to subscribe to a massive pan-European recovery fund largely to prevent Italy from falling into a deep fall. Italy’s economy contracted by almost 9% in 2020, according to data released on Tuesday, one of the deepest declines in the eurozone.

President Mattarella on Tuesday called on Mr Draghi after the left-wing coalition government in Italy broke down and could not be reunited. This coalition, led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, collapsed in part because of its inability to agree on how to escape a deep recession resulting from the Covid-19 and long closures.

Italy’s urgent challenges mean a weak government and months of delayed decisions cannot be allowed while early elections are held, Mattarella said. “I call on all political forces in Parliament to support a high-profile government,” the president said.

People close to Mr Draghi say he has been reluctant to enter the minefield of Italian coalition governments, which are often short-lived and failed and whose collapses can tarnish the reputation of even much-loved leaders. . But it is difficult to reject an appeal by the country’s head of state amid a national emergency, these people say.

Draghi’s tenure as head of the ECB made him one of the most respected public figures in Europe, at least within the continent’s centrist generalist political establishment and with financial markets. His promise in 2012 to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro, including massive intervention in government bond markets, is widely credited with disabling the European sovereign debt crisis, which threatened to break monetary union .

However, Italian anti-establishment parties, such as the populist 5 Star Movement and the League Against Immigration, have long been skeptical of Mr. Draghi, considering him the epitome of the country’s technocratic elite. which they blame for the economic stagnation and social decline of Italy. in the last quarter of a century. Without the support of one or both parties, Mr Draghi would struggle to find a majority to govern with.

League leader Matteo Salvini on Tuesday reiterated his call for quick elections, which opinion polls suggest he would win his center-right alliance. However, other League politicians, including party number two Giancarlo Giorgetti, are known to support the idea of ​​a broad-based coalition led by Mr Draghi.

The 5 Star Movement may not like Mr Draghi, but the alternative to the election could be worse: opinion polls point to serious losses for the party, which has been the main source of support for Mr Conte’s two governments. since 2018.

Conte, a little-known law professor, lasted longer in power than most observers expected. But he fell to a junior party that supported his coalition, the centrist group Italia Viva led by former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, which accused Mr Conte of lacking ideas to revive the Italian economy or spend productively on EU recovery fund. Conte said he was open to Mr Renzi’s ideas, but talks aimed at repairing the coalition broke down on Tuesday.

Write to Marcus Walker to [email protected] and Giovanni Legorano to [email protected]