Italian PM Draghi wins vote but his unity govt is in peril

Jul 20, 2022, 4:13 AM | Updated: 11:52 am
Italian Premier Mario Draghi, left, talks with culture minister Dario Franceschini, center, and def...

Italian Premier Mario Draghi, left, talks with culture minister Dario Franceschini, center, and defense minister Lorenzo Guerini during a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Mario Draghi has won a confidence vote in the Senate, but boycotts by three of his key coalition allies in the voting have likely doomed the government’s prospects of survival.

The vote Wednesday went 95-38 in the favor of Draghi’s government, but it was a hollow victory.

Just before the roll call vote, representatives of the populist 5-Star Movement, the conservative forces of former Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and right-wing senators of Matteo Salvini’s League party announced they would skip the vote.

Coalition turmoil prompted Draghi last week to offer his resignation, but Italy’s president rejected the bid and asked the premier to test his government’s support in Parliament.

The mass walkout in the 315-member Senate came despite an unprecedented outpouring of sentiment by citizens in the last days appealing for Draghi to keep on governing, amid soaring inflation and energy costs and a surge in pandemic infections.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Mario Draghi’s tenure in office grew decidedly more precarious on Wednesday after three coalition allies declared, one after the other, that they will boycott a confidence vote on his government, likely dooming prospects that his increasingly fractious government could stay afloat.

The unraveling of his “national unity coalition” has made the prospect of Italy holding an early election as soon as late September increasingly likely.

After hours of debate on his fate, Draghi asked the Senate to vote Wednesday on a confidence measure calling him to keep on governing. Last week Draghi had offered to step down after losing support from the populist 5-Star Movement, a partner in his 17-month-old coalition. But the president rejected his offer, asking him to go back to Parliament to seek support.

Appearing for a second time before Parliament’s upper house, Draghi cited an “unprecedented” outpouring of public pleas for him to continue governing amid soaring inflation, rising energy prices, the war in Ukraine and Italy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Draghi told the senators after hours of debate, including squabbles among members of coalition partners, that “at this point, I could declare my resignation and leave the hall.”

But because the “mobilization that I have seen by citizens” and various associations is “without precedent,” Draghi said he instead was submitting to a vote a pact that would reconfirm the loyalty of the coalition’s parties.

But one after the other, party whips from three coalition partners stood up to declare their lawmakers wouldn’t participate in the roll call vote, which began Wednesday evening. Besides the 5-Stars, the other parties boycotting the vote were center-right Forza Italia senators from the ranks of the party of former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who had been one of Draghi’s staunchest supporters. Similarly opting out of the vote was the right-wing League party of Matteo Salvini.

Either Draghi forms another government without the populists, or he “gives the word to the voters” in an early election, League Sen. Stefano Candiani said.

Draghi had ruled out governing without the populists, an original member of his coalition.

Before Wednesday, even without the populist 5-Star Movement’s senators, Draghi could have still mustered a working majority in the Senate. But the rebuff by Salvini and Berlusconi sabotaged that possibility.

In early 2021, President Sergio Mattarella tapped Draghi to form a government of national unity, grouping parties from the right, left and the 5-Stars to guide Italy through its economic reboot amid the pandemic and reforms linked to some 200 billion euros in European Union recovery funds.

During the day’s first showdown in the Senate, the former European Central Bank chief challenged the coalition partners to recommit to a unity pact.

“Are you ready? Are you ready to rebuild this pact? Are you ready?” Draghi thundered at the end of his speech to senators. “You don’t have to give the answer to me. You have to give it to all Italians.”

In the last week, 14,000 mayors, an association of doctors, other lobbying groups and tens of thousands of ordinary citizens signing “Draghi stay” petitions have urged him not to step down. The financial markets consider Draghi, a former European Central Bank chief, to be a guarantor of fiscal stability in Italy.

In recent weeks, Draghi faced repeated ultimatums from 5-Star leader Giuseppe Conte, as conditions for staying in the government. The populists have criticized Italian military help for Ukraine.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Draghi has pressed ahead with efforts to slash Italy’s dependence on Russian gas, including agreements forged with Algeria, which the premier visited this week.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


              Italian Premier Mario Draghi, left, talks with culture minister Dario Franceschini, center, and defense minister Lorenzo Guerini during a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi, left, talks with culture minister Dario Franceschini, center, and defense minister Lorenzo Guerini during a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi, left, talks with culture minister Dario Franceschini, center, and defense minister Lorenzo Guerini during a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi, left, talks with culture minister Dario Franceschini, center, and defense minister Lorenzo Guerini during a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a debate at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi drinks a coffee after he delivered his speech at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi pulls down the microphones at the end of his speech at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi delivers his speech at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
            
              Italian Government's Ministers stand up to pay respect to the memory of anti-Mafia Prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Falcone and Borsellino were both killed in the summer of 1992 by Mafia bomb attacks. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi delivers his speech at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi waits to deliver his speech at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
            
              Senators listen to Italian Premier Mario Draghi's speech at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
            
              Italian Premier Mario Draghi, center, flanked by Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, left, and Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini, delivers his speech at the Senate in Rome, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Draghi was deciding Wednesday whether to confirm his resignation or reconsider appeals to rebuild his parliamentary majority after the populist 5-Star Movement triggered a crisis in the government by withholding its support. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

AP

(Facebook Photo/City of San Luis, Arizona)...
Associated Press

San Luis authorities receive complaints about 911 calls going across border

Authorities in San Luis say they are receiving more complaints about 911 calls mistakenly going across the border.
3 days ago
(Pexels Photo)...
Associated Press

Daylight saving time begins in most of US this weekend

No time change is observed in Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.
11 days ago
Mexican army soldiers prepare a search mission for four U.S. citizens kidnapped by gunmen in Matamo...
Associated Press

How the 4 abducted Americans in Mexico were located

The anonymous tip that led Mexican authorities to a remote shack where four abducted Americans were held described armed men and blindfolds.
11 days ago
Tom Brundy points to a newly built irrigation canal on one of the fields at his farm Tuesday, Feb. ...
Associated Press

Southwest farmers reluctant to idle farmland to save water

There is a growing sense that fallowing will have to be part of the solution to the increasingly desperate drought in the West.
18 days ago
A young bison calf stands in a pond with its herd at Bull Hollow, Okla., on Sept. 27, 2022. The cal...
Associated Press

US aims to restore bison herds to Native American lands after near extinction

U.S. officials will work to restore more large bison herds to Native American lands under a Friday order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
18 days ago
Children play in a dried riverbed in Flassans-sur-Issole, southern France, Wednesday, March 1, 2023...
Associated Press

Italy, France confront 2nd year of western Europe drought

ROME (AP) — Bracing for Italy’s second consecutive year of drought for the first time in decades, Premier Giorgia Meloni huddled with ministers Wednesday to start mapping out an action plan Wednesday, joining France and other nations in western Europe grappling with scant winter rain and snow. Meloni and her ministers decided to appoint an […]
20 days ago

Sponsored Articles

(Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona Photo)...
Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona

5 common causes for chronic neck pain

Neck pain can debilitate one’s daily routine, yet 80% of people experience it in their lives and 20%-50% deal with it annually.
(Photo by Michael Matthey/picture alliance via Getty Images)...
Cox Communications

Valley Boys & Girls Club uses esports to help kids make healthy choices

KTAR’s Community Spotlight focuses on the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley and the work to incorporate esports into children's lives.
(Photo via MLB's Arizona Fall League / Twitter)...
Arizona Fall League

Top prospects to watch at this year’s Arizona Fall League

One of the most exciting elements of the MLB offseason is the Arizona Fall League, which began its 30th season Monday.
Italian PM Draghi wins vote but his unity govt is in peril