As shenanigans played out in the Senate, culminating in Draghi’s three main coalition parties boycotting a confidence vote and him resigning, Meloni took to the stage in Piazza Vittorio, a square in Rome where the Brothers of Italy, the only party left out Draghi’s government set up a shop for the month of July to express its satisfaction. “A year ago they told us we were headed down the drain and they weren’t realistic,” she told supporters. “We had three different governments, three different majorities [since the March 2018 general elections]. Has anyone worked? No. History has proven us right.” Meloni has reason to celebrate. The Brothers of Italy went from getting just 4% of the vote in the 2018 general election to becoming the largest party in the polls. The rise has been consistent and the party now leads a group that includes Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia which usually run together in elections. A study of recent polls showed that in the event of an early vote, the far-right alliance could easily win a majority. The populist Five Star Movement (M5S) set the crisis in motion after boycotting a confidence vote last week over a €26 billion cost-of-living package. However, it was Liga and Forza Italia that ultimately sealed Draghi’s fate by rejecting his pleas to help his administration see its natural end in the spring of next year. Then followed M5S. “This was the last window of opportunity left for those who wanted to go to the polls,” said Riccardo Maggi, president of the small-left More Europe party. “M5S detonated the bomb, the other two added the final bomb. There is no doubt that they were influenced by Meloni. now he dominates the coalition and they did whatever he wanted them to do.” As the campaign gets under way, commentators are pondering how Draghi, 74, the former European Central Bank chief credited with restoring Italy’s credibility on the world stage, lost power. He was appointed to lead a government of national unity in February 2021, with the main goal of leading Italy out of the coronavirus pandemic and reviving its long-stagnant economy. The Maggis credited the Draghi government with achieving “more in 18 months than any government in the last 30 years,” including passing crucial justice and fiscal reforms. His government also tabled a plan to ensure Italy’s access to its 200 billion euro share of the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund. But it was not enough to rein in his often bickering coalition. “He thought it was a government of national unity, but in reality it was a government of division,” said Michele Geraci, a former undersecretary at the economic development ministry who has close ties to the League. “Remember, it started during the Covid emergency. This was the only thing that brought the parties together in the first few months. After that, there was no longer a common goal.” Draghi’s critics criticized the technocrat’s inability to act as a politician, especially when it came to dealing with parliament. “Let’s just say that not being a politician was a limitation, because it meant that he wouldn’t listen to MPs and their proposals,” said Catia Polidori, a Forza Italia MP. Mattia Diletti, a professor of politics at Rome’s Sapienza University, said Draghi may have been harboring frustration at his failed promotion to head of state in January. “I can understand from his point of view how annoying it is to deal with so many parties, leaders and people who are so demanding,” Diletti said. “At the same time, he has never been a political animal.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also affected the harmony of his government. A major bone of contention for M5S has been Italy’s support for arms shipments to Ukraine. A faction of the party is pro-Russia, and Draghi made it clear during his speech to the Senate on Wednesday that Italy would not abandon its support for war-torn Ukraine. Liga and Forza Italia have also cultivated ties with Russia. “It seems that the parties that have pulled the plug are pro-Putin parties – this is the case of M5S, this is the case of Silvio Berlusconi and this is, obviously, the case of Salvini,” said Francesco Galietti, founder of Policy Sonar . , a consulting firm in Rome. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every day at 7am. BST Italy’s siblings and coalition partners may be the favorites to win the election, but with Italian politics so unpredictable, anything could happen in the next couple of months. “I hope that, after the way the collapse of the Draghi government played out, Italians realize how much damage these political forces have done,” Maggi said. “The collapse of his government could have a boomerang effect.”
