Reasons for the Fall of the Super Mario Government: The Center-Right Coalition Against the Technocrat Prime Minister
Mario Draghi’s government fell on Thursday, July 21. The former president of the European Central Bank went to Quirinale to see Sergio Mattarella after failing to secure more than 95 votes from parliament members. Without the votes of the Lega, Forza Italia, and the Five Star Movement parties, his government officially collapsed. The fall of Mario Draghi’s government occurred during a chaotic two-day parliamentary session.
The no-confidence vote from the Lega and Forza Italia parties, which were part of the government, surprised political observers. While the no-confidence vote from Fratelli d’Italia, which was in opposition, was predictable, the behavior of the Lega, Forza Italia, and the Five Star Movement was unexpected.
The Role of the Five Star Movement in the Decline of Fortune and Fall of the Super Mario Government
However, the momentum leading to the current crisis began at the end of June when well-known sociologist Domenico De Masi claimed that Grillo, the founder of the Five Star Movement, told him that Mario Draghi asked him to remove Giuseppe Conte from the party. In response to this claim, Giuseppe Conte admitted, ‘It is truly unacceptable for a prime minister, who has gained his position with our support, to interfere in the affairs of the political forces that supported him.’
It seems the Five Star Movement’s lack of support for the DI law on employer-paid allowances was a reaction to Mario Draghi’s request to remove Conte from the movement. Draghi at that time decided to resign, but his resignation was rejected by Sergio Mattarella.
And this was the beginning of the end for the Super Mario government. Mario Draghi, finding the situation critical, in his speech on July 20, requested the parties to move the country towards the best change with a new sincere and tangible trust pact. This call for convergence was no longer effective after the disputes that had arisen, as the center-right government of Lega and Forza Italia had decided to vote no confidence in the executive branch and were unwilling to give Draghi another chance.
It should be noted that to avoid officially taking responsibility for the government’s fall, they set an impossible condition for Mario Draghi. They conditioned the continuation of Mario Draghi’s government on changing all cabinet members and forming a government inclined towards the center-right, a condition that Draghi could not accept. It seems accumulated grievances against Mario Draghi’s government, which had started weeks earlier over issues like sending weapons to Ukraine, culminated with the final internal policy disagreements, leading to the fall of the Super Mario government.
The First Female Prime Minister in Italy
Thus, according to the announcement by the President of Italy, early parliamentary elections in the country will be held on September 25. Concerns about the rise of the far-right movement in Italy have increased, and currently, according to poll results, the right-wing Fratelli d’Italia party, led by Giorgia Meloni, has a significant chance of winning the September elections. Speculations suggest her party’s potential victory and the formation of a right-wing coalition government, with Meloni becoming the prime minister, which would make Giorgia Meloni the first female prime minister in Italy if it happens.
Who is the Front Runner for Italy’s Prime Minister?
Giorgia Meloni was born in 1977 in Rome and entered politics at the age of 15 as an activist in the Youth Front of the Italian Social Movement, a group founded by former fascists after World War II.
From 2006 to 2008, she was the Vice President of the Parliament, and from 2008 to 2011, she served as the Minister of Youth in Berlusconi’s fourth cabinet. She was the youngest minister in the history of the Italian Republic.
Meloni later left Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right party, People of Freedom, in opposition to supporting technocrat Mario Monti in the 2013 elections and founded the Fratelli d’Italia party. Since March 8, 2014, she has been the leader of this party.
Now, at the European level, she also has close ties with far-right parties in other countries. She is considered a supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump. However, according to Wolfgang Piccoli, director of the research company Teneo, the Brothers of Italy party must undertake several essential tasks to achieve its goals, including some cleansing of its neo-fascist roots and establishing a strong management team.