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

It is far from clear whether a majority in the Italian parliament would support Mr Draghi as prime minister, even if the former president of the European Central Bank indicates he wants the job. If a viable coalition emerges that Mr. Draghi can lead, his most urgent task would be to formulate a strategy for economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

All of Europe has an interest in Italy’s economic wealth, given the country’s faltering public debt and the mixed feelings of voters recently about the European Union and the euro. Germany and other EU members agreed to underwrite a massive pan-European recovery fund, largely to keep Italy from falling into a deep slump. The Italian economy contracted by nearly 9% in 2020, data released Tuesday, one of the deepest declines in the eurozone.

President Mattarella invited Mr Draghi on Tuesday after Italy’s left-wing coalition government broke down and failed to be reconstituted. That coalition, led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, collapsed in part due to its inability to agree on how to escape a deep recession brought on by Covid-19 and protracted lockdowns.

Italy’s pressing challenges mean it cannot afford a weak government or months of delayed decisions while holding early elections, Mr Mattarella said. “I appeal to all political forces in Parliament to support a high-profile government,” said the president.

People close to Mr Draghi say he was reluctant to enter the minefield of Italian coalition governments, which are usually short-lived and unmanageable and whose collapses can tarnish the reputation of even highly esteemed leaders. But it’s hard to reject a call from the country’s head of state during a national emergency, these people say.

Draghi’s tenure as head of the ECB made him one of Europe’s most respected public figures, at least within the continent’s generally centrist, pro-EU political establishment and with the financial markets. His 2012 pledge to “do everything” to save the euro, including massive intervention in government bond markets, is widely attributed to defusing Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, which threatened to tear the currency union apart.

However, Italian anti-establishment parties, such as the populist 5-star movement and the anti-immigration league, have long been skeptical of Mr Draghi, seeing him as the embodiment of the country’s technocratic elite, which they blame for the economic stagnation and social decline in Italy. in the last quarter century. Without the support of one or both parties, Draghi would struggle to find a majority to rule with.

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

The 5-star movement may not like Mr Draghi, but the alternative of elections could be worse: opinion polls point to heavy losses for the party, which has been the biggest source of support for Mr Conte’s two governments since 2018.

Mr. Conte, a little-known law professor, held it in power longer than most observers expected. But he got into a falling out with a subordinate party backing his coalition, the centrist Italia Viva group led by former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who accused Mr Conte of lack of ideas to revive the Italian economy or the EU. -Re-financing spend productively. Mr Conte said he was open to Mr Renzi’s ideas, but talks aimed at restoring the coalition broke down on Tuesday.

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