Draghi Resumes Consultations With Parties to Form Italy's New Government

GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th February, 2021) Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank who was appointed by President of Italy Sergio Mattarella as the prime minister tasked with the formation of a new government, has started the second round of consultations with political parties that will last until Tuesday evening.

Last week, Draghi held talks with all the political forces of the parliament, most of which expressed either vivid or cautious support to the perspective of a new government led by him.

According to the schedule of the meetings published on the chamber of deputies' website, consultations will start at 14:00 GMT on Monday and are expected to conclude by 17:00 on Tuesday.

Brothers of Italy so far has been the only party that stated it would not vote in favor of the government led by Draghi. At the same time, other right-wing parties - Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini's Lega - are ready to support it.

The biggest question until now is whether the Five Star Movement (M5S), the biggest party in the parliament, is going to support Draghi. At first, it was reluctant to give its consent, keeping loyalty to former prime minister Giuseppe Conte and insisting on a political rather than technical government. On Saturday, however, when the first round of consultations ended, M5S leader Vito Crimi said after the meeting with Draghi that M5S was ready to assess the possibilities to become part of the future government.

During the second round, Draghi is supposed to present to the parties a summary of program vision for his future government. The main issues are the pandemic and economic emergencies and the Recovery Plan that specifies how Italy is going to spend funds from the Next Generation EU. The plan was exactly the point of contention for the previous government, which led to its collapse.