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dpa Rome Against the background of a severe drought, tight energy supplies and soaring inflation, Italian President Sergio Mattarella accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Draghi after a week-long attempt to unite his unravelling coalition failed.The president’s office said on Thursday that Draghi’s government would remain in place for the time being to handle current business.Before meeting Mattarella, Draghi told lawmakers that he saw no possibility of continuing to govern after failing to receive broad backing in a Senate confidence vote on Wednesday night. The first crushing blow to Draghi’s coalition came when one of his coalition members, the left-wing populist Five Star Movement (M5S), refused to back the government in a key vote last week.Draghi, who does not belong to a political party, had offered to resign then, but Mattarella had rejected the resignation in the hope that Draghi could revive his coalition.On Wednesday, however, Draghi fell well short of the broad support he wanted in a confidence vote in the Senate.Although the 74-year-old won the vote with 95 votes in favour to 39 against, three of his coalition partners - the far-right populist League party, conservative Forza Italia, and the left-wing populist Five Star Movement (M5S) - did not take part in the vote.The former president of the European Central Bank (ECB), who is credited with saving the euro in 2012, has led a broad coalition in the eurozone’s third-largest economy since February 2021.Parties that do not usually cooperate had joined forces in order to guide the country through the coronavirus pandemic.Draghi himself is a respected figure in Italian politics, and his address to parliament on Thursday was preceded by long applause, with many parliamentarians giving him a standing ovation.In response to the resignation, Renato Brunetta, the minister for public administration, announced he has left his Forza Italia party.“It is not me who is leaving, but Forza Italia, or rather what remains of it, that has left itself,” Brunetta wrote on Facebook.He accused his party of succumbing to populism and putting party interests above those of the country. Forza Italia - which means Forward, or Let’s Go, Italy - is the party of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.With Italy’s political future now in turmoil, Mattarella has summoned the two leaders of parliament to his residence.Senate President Maria Elisabetta Casellati and Chamber of Deputies President Roberto Fico are expected at the Quirinal Palace in Rome on Thursday afternoon, a statement from Mattarella’s office said.Casellati is scheduled to appear at 4:30 pm (1430 GMT) and Fico half an hour later, according to local media.In the midst of a drought crisis, fears about energy supplies, the burden of inflation and uncertainty caused by the Ukraine war, Mattarella must decide for the good of Italy how to proceed.Analysts say Mattarella, who now has a critical role in deciding Italy’s political future after Draghi’s resignation, could dissolve the two chambers of parliament and call an early election.An election date could fall in September or early October. Until then, it remains to be seen whether Italy will remain politically paralysed or will be able to implement pending reforms that it needs for the payment of important EU aid funds.
