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Italy Summons 'Super Mario' to Halt Political Turmoil

Jamie Dettmer

   Italy's president has turned to a former banker dubbed "Super Mario" to
   set up a government of national unity to replace a shaky coalition that
   collapsed last week amid infighting.
   The selection of 73-year-old Mario Draghi to head a "technical"
   government is prompting the question: Can he save Italy from economic
   collapse much as he saved the euro, Europe's single currency, while
   head of the European Central Bank in the aftermath of the 2008 global
   financial crash?
   Draghi helped to soothe financial markets after the crash and defended
   the euro by emphasizing the bank would do "whatever it takes" to
   preserve the currency.
   Italian President Sergio Mattarella said Tuesday he had asked Draghi to
   accept the mandate and appealed to "all the political forces in the
   parliament" to support a "high- profile government" to meet the
   historic moment.
   Draghi now will negotiate with fractious party leaders to see if they
   will help him shape a new government. Italy's stock market rallied on
   Wednesday in response to the news. Italian bond yields dropped after
   Draghi said he would seek to form a new government, reducing borrowing
   costs for Italy.
   Last week, Giuseppe Conte, an obscure academic who proved a deft
   political operator, resigned as prime minister. That came after his
   uneasy and squabbling coalition government lost the support of a junior
   center-left governing partner, plunging the pandemic-struck country
   into fresh political turmoil.
   The crisis was triggered by Matteo Renzi, another former prime
   minister, who clashed with Conte and the main coalition partners, the
   eclectic anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the center-left
   Democratic Party, over how to spend more than $200 billion in EU funds
   to boost Italy's recovery from the pandemic.
   Renzi's gambit was widely seen as a ploy to grab more power for his
   diminutive breakaway left-wing Italia Viva Party, which attracted 2% of
   the popular vote and has more than a dozen senators -- enough to
   deprive Conte of a majority in the upper chamber of Italy's Parliament.

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