DRAGHI STARTS TALKS WITH ITALIAN PARTIES ON FORMING GOV’T

Premier-designate Mario Draghi started talks Thursday with Italy's political parties in the Lower House after the former head of the European Central Bank (ECB) was handed a mandate by President Sergio Mattarella to try and form a new government, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Outgoing Premier Giuseppe Conte quit last week after the centrist Italia Viva (IV) party pulled its support for his executive, depriving it of a majority in the Senate. Mattarella, who as president is the arbiter of Italian politics, on Tuesday called on the parties in parliament to get behind a high-profile non-political executive after efforts to patch up the alliance that had backed Conte's government failed.

Draghi, who said Wednesday that his priorities will be defeating the COVID-19 pandemic and "relaunching" the country, must now see if an eventual government led by him will have a working majority in parliament.

The consultations with the parties are expected to last a couple of days. It is not certain that a Draghi government would be able to enjoy a comfortable majority.

Ex-premier and IV leader Matteo Renzi has welcomed the decision to give Draghi a mandate. Two other parties in what was the ruling alliance, the center-left Democratic Party (PC) and the left-wing LeU group, may well back it too. But the other former coalition partner, thee 5-Star Movement (M5S), has said t wants a "political" executive.

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