The elephant in the room was so big that it was spoken to right away. At his press conference at the end of the year, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi was asked right at the beginning whether he intended to rule until the end of the legislative period in spring 2023, or whether he would see himself as the future president of the country in a few weeks’ time. The journalist expressed herself in a somewhat more convoluted and cryptic way, but that would not have been necessary. Draghi laughed, he even clapped, then said, “You managed to read the thoughts of most of the colleagues who are in this room today.” He would answer now, then the subject would be off the table.
It wasn’t that, but the question of all questions was asked, something like the cardinal question for the future of Italy. The seven-year mandate of the beloved incumbent Sergio Mattarella expires in February, a second he ruled out. Both chambers will be elected in mid or late January. And Draghi is considered a favorite. But does he want too?
Draghi said his government had done more than was expected in the past ten months – on three main counts. “Italy is one of the countries with the highest vaccination rates in the world, we submitted our recovery plan on time and we met all of the 51 goals we set.” So everything is well prepared. “The government has created the conditions so that the plans can continue – regardless of who is leading them.” Of course, people are always important, said Draghi. But it is even more important that the government can count on such a broad parliamentary majority in the future as it has since last February. Then came the central passage of his answer: “I have no specific aspirations, neither of the one kind nor of the other. I am a man, if you will: a grandfather who is in the service of the institutions.”
That the 74-year-old Roman, after an illustrious career as a national and European central banker, turned himself into a nonno describes is only supposedly a thrown joke. The best, most popular and morally strongest presidents in the history of Italy had the gesture of loving, impartial and above all grandfathers, not only in terms of age. There have never been any grandmothers in the role because a woman has never been elected to the Quirinal Palace. This historical gap is discussed a bit again this time, but in the end everyone just wonders: Will Draghi stay prime minister for a while – or will he be president for seven years? For both variants there are among the 1008 “big voters” in parliament – members of parliament, senators, representatives of the regions – supporters, and their advantages are not always based solely on the greater good of the country.
Nothing is certain, even for Draghi
Draghi, it would seem, would not be averse to continuing his service in the country for a number of years. But what happens to the government then? Who guarantees the reforms and the promises made to Brussels? Does the cabinet hold together with the many, actually hardly compatible souls even without Draghi? Or wouldn’t the legislative period be over very quickly, sacrificed for early elections and small party calculations?
Then during the two hour press conference there were another dozen questions that should have urged Draghi to make his preference clear, and he always smiled. “My personal fate doesn’t count. I don’t dislike questions about my future either,” he once said. “But I don’t have an answer to that.” This is not flirtatious. In fact, anything can happen in Italy in the presidential election until shortly before the secret ballot – even that someone with the stuff of the grandfather of the republic is ground up in the opaque game of string pullers and so-called snipers.