Draghi takes helm in Italy, focused on pandemic recovery aid

ROME (AP) — Mario Draghi, the man largely credited with saving the euro currency, took the helm as Italy's premier Saturday after assembling a government that balances economic experts and other technocrats with career politicians from across the spectrum to guide the pandemic-devastated nation toward recovery.

Draghi and his 23 Cabinet ministers took their oaths of office at the Quirinal presidential palace. Italian President Sergio Mattarella had tasked the former European Central Bank president with trying to form a government up to managing the the health, economic and social crises of the coronavirus pandemic.

In deference to coronavirus precautions, all participants in the swearing-in ceremony were masked, and a palace aide provided each minister with a fresh pen to sign their oath. Draghi, maintaining the quiet position he took during the days he spent consulting party leaders, made no public comments during the first hours of his premiership, and his eyes showed no discernible emotion over his N95 mask.

Draghi’s most-quoted words so far have been those uttered in 2012 when the euro-zone risked collapsing in a crisis of confidence and he vowed the European Central Bank would do “whatever it takes” to rescue the euro. As he the 73-year-old economist left the premier’s office Saturday, striding before a line of honor guards in the Chigi Palace courtyard, employees of the premier’s office leaned out of windows to warmly applaud.

The current head of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, tweeted her congratulations and noted Draghi's "decades dedicated to public service for Italy and Europe. I wish him all the best as he takes on the task ahead, leading the government in the best interests of all Italian citizens.”

Draghi, 73, i, who also previously led Italy’s central bank, replaces Giuseppe Conte, who resigned after a small party yanked support over the handling of the pandemic. Draghi was tapped after Conte failed to cobble together enough support for a third coalition government.

Draghi on Friday evening unveiled a Cabinet that corresponded with Mattarella’s desire for one not beholden to any political leaning, With pandemic lockdowns pummeling Italy's long-stagnant economy, he chose for his economy minister a non-political appointee, Daniele Franco, who has served in Italian central bank posts and as the state's accountant.

Eager to have some role in deciding how Italy will spend some 209 billion euros (about $250 billion) in European Union recovery funds,, politicians from parties that have spent years demonizing each other set aside differences, at least for now, and agreed to join a Draghi government.

That political backing will be crucial in Parliament, where Draghi next week must win mandatory confidence votes.

The prospect of funneling money into concrete projects to improve citizens' lives is thanks to EU largesse that has been described as the biggest aid instrument since the Marshall Plan after World War II. It practically overnight transformed the euroskepticism of Matteo Salvini, the right-wing League leader, into a publicly enthusiastic pro-Europe proponent of a Draghi government.

Salvini didn't get a ministry himself, but three of his party stalwarts did, including a key aide, Giancarlo Giorgetti, who will head the economic development ministry as Italy tries to bolster businesses knocked to the ground by the anti-pandemic measures that shuttered stores, shopping malls, restaurants and cafes and for weeks on end.

Getting a share of the 23 ministry posts were four parties that formed Giuseppe Conte's imploded coalition: the Democratic Party; a smaller left-wing party; a small centrist party led by ex-Premier Matteo Renzi, whose defection caused the Conte government's collapse last month, and the biggest party in Parliament, the populist 5-Star Movement.

Born as an anti-establishment movement, the Movement was already splintering after being the lead party in back-to-back Conte governments since 2018 — one right-leaning and the other left-leaning. Its decision to join a Draghi government threatened to widen the fractures in the Movement, with roots in distrust of Brussels.

Back in government after a decade is Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia party. The former three-time premier and media mogul is a big backer of Draghi and bills himself as a staunch champion of Europe.

Conte was heavily backed by the 5-Stars, championing him for the premiership, although the mediation specialist lawyer holds no political party post. Riding high in opinion polls in his 2 1/2 years in office, Conte is considered by many ripe to form his own party ahead of elections due in 2023 but could come sooner, given political tensions among Italy's parties.