Draghi wants the Hill and has calmly lowered his threat to the parties
In the press conference at the end of the year – anticipated before Christmas, probably in view of the well-deserved holidays – Prime Minister Mario Draghi actually launched his candidacy for the Quirinale, naturally with the appropriate measure for the institutional office we are talking about. One does not apply to the Quirinale, one is called.
But those who asked for the prime minister to make the first move, to clarify his intentions, were satisfied: Draghi is available. Not only that: he wants the coronation.
And he did so by replying to the most powerful argument that has been resorting to for weeks those who, among the political forces and the most listened to commentators, would instead want him chained to Palazzo Chigi for at least another year, as you read in Atlantico Quotidiano already on 7 October. last: Draghi has not yet completed the work for which he was called to lead the government, vaccination campaign and reforms of the NRP. The ongoing emergency suggests maintaining the current structure, with the former ECB in Palazzo Chigi and Mattarella at the Quirinale. At the bottom, the signature of the Democratic Party.
This is why we have advanced the suspicion that the emergency has become a card to play in the game for the Colle: those who want to keep Draghi at Palazzo Chigi are pushing for a tightening of the restrictive measures, to demonstrate that the emergency is far from behind. , while in turn the prime minister is led to tempt them all in order to avoid a worsening of the situation on the eve of the first votes. A combination that risks, already this evening, to present us with a heavy bill in terms of further unnecessary and surreal restrictive measures. To make the vaccinated digest a tampon in very limited occasions, we risk a further tightening on the unvaccinated – even the obligation of the vaccine to work – so that the former can still feel "rewarded" and "privileged".
So what did Draghi answer yesterday?
“This government was born called by the President of the Republic. And he did everything, or at least much of what he was called upon to do . Central to government action was the support of political forces. My personal destinies count for absolutely nothing, I have no particular aspirations, I am a grandfather at the service of institutions. The responsibility for the decision is not in the hands of individuals but entirely in the hands of political forces ".
And he cited exactly the points on which, again according to those who still want him in Chigi, he would not have completed his work:
“We have achieved three great results: Italy is one of the countries in the world with the most vaccinations, delivered the NRR on time and reached 51 goals. We have done a job so that the work of the government continues, regardless of who will be there ".
Therefore, the meaning is: mission accomplished , I have fulfilled my mandate, I am free from any commitment made with President Mattarella and the government can go ahead with anyone, with this majority.
But how can Draghi win and convince the reluctant parties – above all the Democratic Party – to elect him to the Quirinale? As Musso hypothesized in Atlantico Quotidiano already on 7 October last, he can "set himself on fire" politically, that is, he may not be willing to continue with a majority that has not elected him president of the Republic.
And it is precisely this threat, albeit covertly, serenely, that the premier dropped yesterday by answering a question from a journalist with a rhetorical question:
"Is it conceivable that a majority will split on the election of the President of the Republic and be recomposed immediately afterwards?"
Implied answer: no.
Here, then, is Draghi's challenge to the parties. If the main concern of political forces is an early end of the legislature, the premier is telling him that the greatest risk would be run by not electing him to the Quirinale. Because he would only continue with a cohesive majority, which however would not be today, if he split on the election of the new President of the Republic. If the current majority were not to elect him and split over another candidate, Draghi would pack his bags and leave the parties really on the brink of early elections.
The warning is subtle but wrist-shaking. The challenge to the political forces is not trivial: either you vote solidly for me, or you split up, the government falls because I resign and you risk early voting. Paraphrasing Draghi himself on vaccines (“you don't get vaccinated, you get sick, you die”): don't vote for me, you split up, go home.
As Augusto Minzolini observes today, playing another powerful card against the election of Draghi, it is no coincidence that no prime minister in the history of the Republic has risen directly from Palazzo Chigi al Colle, there are a number of valid reasons.
An example? The anomaly of the anomalies of these two years has served – and we must once again thank Renzi and Mattarella. We have a prime minister who practically poses a question of trust to Parliament not on a decree or a budget maneuver, but on his own election to the Hill: either me, or the flood, or the fall of the government. Everyone can judge for themselves the levels of flooding from the constitutional dictate that we have been reaching for two years now.
One wonders, with Daniele Capezzone, if he is “a grandfather at the service of institutions or institutions at the service of a grandfather? Let the 'leaders' think about it: from Colle, it is easier for you to give the job to your bartender in Città della Pieve than to one of them… ”.
It will be very difficult for the majority parties not to split over another candidate, man or woman. Berlusconi, needless to say. In the end, the only name that would make Draghi's ultimate weapon tick would be him: Mattarella.
If Draghi does not succeed in the first three votes, the majority in order not to split should immediately play the card of the outgoing president. Which, for the Democratic Party, would be fine. And here's how we would return to the starting square: Mattarella at the Quirinale, Draghi at Palazzo Chigi.
Who knows if that "almost" all done, referring to his mandate, does not include the ratification of the ESM Treaty, which the government intends to present very soon to the Chambers for rapid approval, as announced yesterday, responding to the question time , the minister economics and finance Daniele Franco (among other things, among the candidates to succeed Draghi in the event of an election to the Quirinale). The ratification of the Mes Treaty would be for the League what the vote for Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission was for the 5 Star Movement: the completion of pro-European normalization and the loss of millions of votes.
The post Draghi wants the Hill and has calmly lowered his threat to the parties appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL https://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/draghi-vuole-il-colle-e-ha-serenamente-calato-la-propria-minaccia-ai-partiti/ on Thu, 23 Dec 2021 03:48:00 +0000.