Italy gets a leader with good bedside manners
One reason you don’t see much news about Italian politics is that the country has had 66 governments since World War II. They’ve lasted on average 14 months. Trying to explain this is difficult. As a former prime minister, Aldo Moro once wryly said, “Why the need to understand it? Just report about it.”
We’re happy to report that Italy may soon have its most consequential prime minister in its postwar history. He is Mario Draghi, former president of the European Central Bank who single-handedly rescued the euro during a financial crisis in 2012 by fulfilling a promise to do “whatever it takes.” Now this Italian economist who saved the European Union – earning him the sobriquet Super Mario – has been tasked to save Italy, which faces its worst crisis in decades.
What is easy to understand about Mr. Draghi – unlike Italian politics – is that he has demonstrated openness and transparency in his previous roles, attributes sorely needed in Italy’s byzantine and opaque government. He is described as a listener who is innovative as well as effective in persuading others to take bold action. “If one opts for a short-term course of stabilization, the long-term optimum will never be achieved,” he wrote for his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
His stellar reputation as a European leader has already made him Italy’s most popular political figure. He’ll need that popularity and his admirable qualities to run a governing coalition and avoid becoming the short-lived head of a 67th government.
Italy has been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus. Its economy shrank 9% last year and is projected to fall a further 18% this year. Its debt levels are among the highest in the world. Red tape and slow courts make it one of the worst places to invest.
One reason Mr. Draghi was tapped to form a government is that Italy must show by April that it has enough reforms in place to receive $243 billion from the EU to help it end the worst recession since World War II. As the third-largest economy in the eurozone, Italy cannot be allowed to fail. It is also too large to bail out. If its economy implodes, a decadeslong experiment in Continental unity could fail.
A lot rides on Mr. Draghi’s ability to form a consensus among Italy’s fractious political parties. He has enough support to become prime minister. But reversing Italy’s reputation as the “sick man of Europe” will require Italian politicians to rise up to Mr. Draghi’s abilities. The healing can start with the kind of thinking he demonstrated for all of Europe.
