After meeting with Mario Draghi, who offered his resignation as prime minister, Italian President Sergio Mattarella turned down the offer.
Late on Thursday evening, Draghi made the decision to formally resign from his position as chairman of the European Central Bank. His decision came after the Five Star Movement (M5S), the second largest force in his coalition, abstained from a vote of confidence in the Senate earlier in the day regarding the government’s relief bill to combat rising prices.
After their meeting at the Quirinale Palace, Mattarella’s office issued an official statement saying that “the President has not accepted the resignation.”
According to the statement, the President has sent an invitation to the Prime Minister “to come before Parliament for communication, in order to have an evaluation of the situation… in its correct venue.” The invitation was made public by the President.
According to reports from the local media, Draghi is now scheduled to deliver a speech to both the lower house and the Senate on the following Wednesday.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the crisis erupted after weeks of tensions developing inside the wide coalition that supported the Prime Minister’s national unity administration, which was founded in February 2021. This was alleged to have occurred.
Up until recent months, when political infighting centred on the question of what the cabinet’s short-term and long-term goals ought to be, Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank, has been able to take advantage of a broad political agreement.
Following the Five Star Movement’s decision not to participate in Thursday’s vote of confidence, the Prime Minister called a meeting of his Cabinet and formally informed his ministers that he would be resigning from his position as Prime Minister. He stated that the majority that had supported the government since its inception no longer exists.
“From the moment I gave my inaugural statement in front of Parliament, I have always said that the Cabinet would continue only if there is a clear possibility of carrying out the policies of the administration. This level of cohesion has been absolutely necessary in order to handle the problems that have arisen over the last few months “Draghi stated. “These circumstances do not persist in the present.”