What happened in Italy?

We had the best Prime Minister ever, and then the Government fell. How was that possible?

Mario Draghi, (former ECB chief who saved the Eurozone with that historic “whatever it takes and believe me, it will be enough”), resigned after the leaders of the right wing parties withdraw their support to the coalition.

It all started because the tantrums by the leader of the M5S party. A former prime minister, that had fooled us all during his tenure throughout the difficult months of the pandemic. Had him kept quiet, he would have been remembered as a good politician!

Instead the coalition began to fall apart. An antagonistic rift within the M5S, then between 5S and Lega, led to treats and ultimatums. Eventually after a meeting at the Villa of (a resurrected), Mr. Berlusconi, the Lega, M5S, Forza Italia, and Brothers of Italy—that is coveting the PM seat—withdraw their support and Draghi resigned.

So here we go again to the polls

On September 25th Italy will hold a national election, a period usually reserved for passing a budget. And a very important budget for that matter. It will be very important to implement the reforms the European Commission demands in exchange for a promised €200bn in grants and loans from the EU’s pandemic relief fund.

Instead of struggling for ways to get us through a surely difficult winter without Russian energy supplies, and helping consumers by fighting inflation, our politicians preferred to go to the polls lured by polls that give the lead the right wing parties (Brothers of Italy, Lega mainly).

Preposterously, the M5S seems to be in free fall, and the naive former prime minister that started it all isn’t getting any significant attention. Berlusconi himself will probably get just the scraps.

Italy’s leaders will be politicking, trading insults, and issuing political threats. Even after the votes are counted, it will take weeks to form a new government and to get it up and running.

So are we about to vote for the first female PM? Georgia Meloni surely thinks so, and she is gloating over it by the day. She is almost 30 years younger than the man she hopes to replace as prime minister, her government experience is limited, and never held a job before.

Her dream to become prime minister is no sure thing.

Things can still change significantly, fights among right wing parties are common and frequent, and swings in public opinion could still shift things. Moreover, the resurrection of an overly aged Berlusconi, with the same political promises (less taxes, higher pension to all), which now are 30 years old, are rather unbelievable.

Draghi’s crisis management experience, his concise narrative, and problem solving experience will be sorely missed.