Italy's Draghi takes office, faces daunting challenges
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
August 09, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, AUGUST 09, 2022
Italy's Draghi takes office, faces daunting challenges

World+Biz

Reuters
13 February, 2021, 06:05 pm
Last modified: 13 February, 2021, 06:09 pm

Related News

  • Italy's right-wing frontrunners see room to revamp national recovery plan
  • UK PM hopeful Sunak would have edge over Truss with swing voters
  • Accessories to boost your office productivity
  • PM for judging faith in Liberation War spirit to promote military officers 
  • Almost 700 migrants rescued off the Italian coast, 5 found dead

Italy's Draghi takes office, faces daunting challenges

If he prevails, Draghi will likely bolster the entire eurozone, which has long fretted over Italy’s perennial problems

Reuters
13 February, 2021, 06:05 pm
Last modified: 13 February, 2021, 06:09 pm
FILE PHOTO: Incoming Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi speaks to the media after meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in Rome, Italy, February 12, 2021. REUTERS/Yara Nardi/Pool
FILE PHOTO: Incoming Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi speaks to the media after meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in Rome, Italy, February 12, 2021. REUTERS/Yara Nardi/Pool

The Italian president swore in the former chief of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, as prime minister on Saturday at the head of a unity government called on to confront the coronavirus crisis and economic slump.

All but one of Italy's major parties have rallied to his side and his cabinet includes lawmakers from across the political spectrum, as well as technocrats in key posts, including the finance ministry and a new green transition portfolio.

Much now rests on Draghi's shoulders.

He is tasked with plotting Italy's recovery from the pandemic and must immediately set to work on plans for how to spend more than 200 billion euros ($240 billion) in European Union funds aimed at rebuilding the recession-bound economy.

If he prevails, Draghi will likely bolster the entire eurozone, which has long fretted over Italy's perennial problems. Success would also prove to Italy's sceptical northern allies that by offering funds to the poorer south, they will fortify the entire bloc.

But he faces enormous challenges. Italy is mired in its worst downturn since World War Two, hundreds of people are still dying of COVID-19 each day, the vaccination campaign is going slowly and he only has limited time to sort things out.

Italy is due to return to the polls in two years time, but it is far from certain that Draghi will be able to survive that long at the head of a coalition that includes parties with radically opposing views on issues such as immigration, justice, infrastructure development and welfare.

Highlighting Italy's political instability, Draghi's government is the 67th to take office since 1946 and the seventh in the last decade alone.

Cabinet Mix

President Sergio Mattarella asked him to take over after the previous coalition collapsed amid party infighting. Draghi has spent the past 10 days drawing up his plans and unveiled his 23-strong cabinet on Friday, which included eight women.

Eight of the ministries went to technocrats, with the rest split amongst the six main parties that back the government -- four for the 5-Star Movement, the largest group in parliament, three each for the Democratic Party, the League and Forza Italia and one apiece for Italia Viva and LEU.

As finance minister, Draghi called on an old colleague, Daniele Franco, the deputy governor of the Bank of Italy, while the sensitive job of justice minister was handed to the former head of the constitutional court, Marta Cartabia.

He also looked outside the political sphere for two new roles -- technological innovation, which was entrusted to the former head of telecoms firm Vodafone, Vittorio Colao, and ecological transition, given to physicist Roberto Cingolani.

These twin positions play into demands by the European Union that a sizeable chunk of its recovery fund should be used to promote the digitalisation of the continent and to shift away from a dependence on fossil fuels.

Draghi, a reserved figure who has no profile on social media platforms, will unveil his programme in the upper house of parliament on Wednesday and the lower house on Thursday.

Confidence votes will be held in both chambers and with just the far-right Brothers of Italy outside the cabinet, he looks likely to win the biggest majority in Italian history.

However, some members of the 5-Star Movement, which was created in 2009 as an anti-system, anti-euro protest group, have said they might vote against Draghi, threatening a party schism.

Draghi / PM / Italy / Office / Challenges

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Anwar Group looks beyond slowdown – invests Tk5,000cr
    Anwar Group looks beyond slowdown – invests Tk5,000cr
  • A unique exchange rate regime
    A unique exchange rate regime
  • File Photo of Bangladesh Bank : Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS
    Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 

MOST VIEWED

  • A view of the border fence outside the Kitton outpost on the border with Afghanistan in North Waziristan, Pakistan October 18, 2017. REUTERS/Caren Firouz
    Pakistani militant with $3m US bounty killed in Afghanistan - sources
  • U.S. dollar banknotes are displayed in this illustration taken, February 14, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
    US to send $4.5b more to Ukraine for budget needs
  • US announces $1b Ukraine arms aid package
    US announces $1b Ukraine arms aid package
  • FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A350-900 aircraft performs a flight pass during the Singapore Airshow in Singapore February 11, 2014. REUTERS/Tim Chong
    Airbus delivered 46 jets in July, books big China order
  • Employees process ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold at the Krastsvetmet non-ferrous metals plant, one of the world's largest producers in the precious metals industry, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia November 22, 2018. Photo: Reuters.
    Gold gains as dollar, yields slip; focus on US inflation data
  • US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, US, 24 February 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis
    Biden says he is concerned about China's moves around Taiwan

Related News

  • Italy's right-wing frontrunners see room to revamp national recovery plan
  • UK PM hopeful Sunak would have edge over Truss with swing voters
  • Accessories to boost your office productivity
  • PM for judging faith in Liberation War spirit to promote military officers 
  • Almost 700 migrants rescued off the Italian coast, 5 found dead

Features

Photo: BSS

Begum Fazilatunnessa Mujib . . . woman of moral power

11h | Thoughts
Will Glass Cosmetics be your next skincare holy grail?

Will Glass Cosmetics be your next skincare holy grail?

16h | Brands
Akij Tableware: More than just dishes on a table

Akij Tableware: More than just dishes on a table

16h | Brands
Deeply depressed and afraid of living in total darkness, the Noakhali-based housewife Rasheda desires nothing but to get her vision back. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

Blind people need 25,000 corneas. Sandhani gets around 25

17h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

What caused the Megalodon to go extinct?

What caused the Megalodon to go extinct?

8h | Videos
92nd birth anniversary of Bangamata Fazilatunnesa Mujib today

92nd birth anniversary of Bangamata Fazilatunnesa Mujib today

9h | Videos
Challenges the world will face after 10 years

Challenges the world will face after 10 years

11h | Videos
Ukraine-Russia war at new stage, fear of nuclear radiation increasing

Ukraine-Russia war at new stage, fear of nuclear radiation increasing

12h | Videos

Most Read

1
Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46
Energy

Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46

2
Housing projects sprouting up by Dhaka-Mawa expressway
Real Estate

Housing projects sprouting up by Dhaka-Mawa expressway

3
Infographic: TBS
Banking

Dollar rate will be left to market after two months: Governor

4
Bangladesh to resume talks for Ukrainian wheat import
Economy

Bangladesh to resume talks for Ukrainian wheat import

5
A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker is tugged towards a thermal power station in Futtsu, east of Tokyo, Japan November 13, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
Energy

Summit proposes long-term LNG supply to Petrobangla

6
Dollar for LC settlement reaches new high at Tk110
Banking

Dollar for LC settlement reaches new high at Tk110

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net