A guarantee of stability, Italian President Sergio Mattarella was re-elected on Saturday after a parliamentary marathon which exposed the deep divisions between the parties in government at a pivotal moment for the post-COVID recovery.
White smoke at the Quirinale, the presidential palace in Rome: ” Habemus papam“, launched a senator after the agreement on the name of Mattarella announced between the parties which feared an institutional and political crisis if they did not find a successor to him.
At 80, President Mattarella had repeated that he did not intend to continue in office, but during the day he made known to the heads of parliamentary groups his desire to make himself “available”.
Such a scenario ensures stability at the top of the state by maintaining Mario Draghi, a favorite at one time, at the head of the government, in a country in the process of economic recovery.
“Congratulations, dear Sergio, on your re-election,” said tweeted French President Emmanuel Macron. “I know I can count on your commitment to keep the friendship between our countries alive, as well as this united, strong and prosperous Europe that we are building”.
Hailing “a friend who understands the importance of Europe”, German President Frank Walter Steinmeier observed: “Europe needs a strong Italy and Italy will keep a forward-looking president with you. , which is not afraid of frankness, unites and offers orientation”.
Mario Draghi hailed in a statement “wonderful news for Italians”.
Acclaimed, Mr. Mattarella won 759 votes out of 1,009 senators, deputies and regional officials called to vote. The elected officials present in the hemicycle of the Chamber of Deputies where the counting was held applauded the results for a long time.
Draghi more useful to the government
The parties of Mario Draghi’s coalition government failed to agree on a common alternative candidacy during the first seven rounds of voting held since January 24 and therefore turned to the Italian jurist to make him agree to re-election and save the executive from implosion.
While Mr Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank, was a frontrunner ahead of the election, lawmakers feared his departure from the executive would blow up the coalition and prompt a snap election before the end of the scheduled legislature in 2023.
The departure of Mr. Draghi would also have weakened the recovery of the third largest economy in the euro zone and the implementation of the reforms necessary to benefit from the tens of billions of euros from the European post-Covid recovery plan, of which Italy is the first beneficiary.
For Guido Cozzi, an economist at the University of St. Gallen, “an extension of Mr. Mattarella’s mandate is ideal for the financial markets”. And with Mr. Draghi at the helm of the executive, the injection of European funds and the planned investments are “guaranteed for a second year in a row”, he explained to AFP.
According to the press, Mr. Draghi met the head of state at length on Saturday to try to convince him to accept a new mandate “for the good and stability of the country”.
Nothing prevented Sergio Mattarella from refusing, constitutional law expert Gaetano Azzariti told AFP. And if he is elected for a new term of seven years, he can of course resign when he sees fit.
A complicated second term
The position of president in Italy is largely ceremonial, but it has an important role in the event of a political crisis, in a country whose political landscape is very fragmented. It is he who has the power to dissolve Parliament, to appoint the Prime Minister and he can refuse the mandate to govern to coalitions that he considers too fragile.
Born in Palermo under Mussolini, Sergio Mattarella is a figure of Christian Democracy, the dominant formation in post-war political life against the Italian Communist Party (PCI). He became a deputy for the first time in the early 80s after the assassination by the mafia of his brother Piersanti, president of the Sicilian region.
This lawyer by training, deputy for 25 years and five times minister, was not intended for the highest elective functions. In 2008, then Minister of Defence, he left politics and became a judge at the Constitutional Court.
In 2011, however, pushed – already reluctantly – by the center left head of government Matteo Renzi, he was elected to the presidency. His mandate was marked by the inevitable crises of Italian political life, a deadly earthquake and the pandemic.
His second mandate does not open under better auspices.
“The legislature is saved”, noted the center-left dailyLa Repubblica, “even if the year that separates us from the polls risks being a reissue of the chaos that we have witnessed in recent days. No illusions: Mattarella’s task will be more complicated than we imagine”.