(by Francesco Matera) The mere prospect of having Professor Mario Draghi as the next Prime Minister has also reverberated positively on the markets, the real litmus test of our local choices. The Milan stock exchange yesterday set the record for European stock exchanges, settling at + 7,5%, while the differential between Italian and German Bund securities (spread) stopped at 94 basis points, it hadn't happened since 2015. Analysts they also predicted that in the event of a Draghi government in office, the Italian spread could reach 40 basis points within a couple of years.
The Draghi effect pushed foreign investors to believe in Italy again in just two days. The same Cristine Lagarde, current president of the ECB, breathed a sigh of relief, declaring in the press that he was confident that Mario Draghi will bring Italy out of the economic crisis, a crisis that has gripped our country for over twenty years. The sigh of relief because having the third economy in the EU zone in good health guarantees a long life for the Union too.
Meanwhile Mario Draghi is weaving the canvas in Italy, a sturdy, resistant and elastic canvas, precisely to prevent it from giving in easily to the turbulence of parties. Yesterday the second round of consultations with the smaller parties ended, today he will meet the shareholders of the old majority and the opposition parties that will become the future majority. A play on words that explains in an unavoidable way the obstacle course of the nascent government.
Amidst doubts, uncertainties and distrust on the part of the various souls of the parties, the Draghi line is clear to all: he and the President decide on the team Mattarella, while on the program we are trying to propose a synthesis able to accommodate most of the requests of the parties of the future colorful majority.
The premier in charge has also already hinted at the priorities of his program: environment, vaccine campaign to be accelerated, work, business and school. On the latter point, the former ECB insisted on the goal of changing the school calendar, extending it to June beyond the deadlines in order to make up for absences due to Covid-19. While the most substantial reforms in the pipeline will affect the Public Administration, Civil Justice and the Tax Authority.
If all goes as planned Mario Draghi, as the next Prime Minister will also begin to give a different impulse to international commitments. On 21 May in Rome, together with the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen will participate in theHealth Global Summit. A forum of European countries which, in harmony with the World Health Organization, will try to organize a new strategy to encourage research into Covid-19 vaccines and solve the problems of mass vaccination, which is still too slow.
There are many international dossiers that will have to be reviewed and discussed with the new Biden administration: the most urgent concern relations with China for 5G, Russia for human rights and Iran for nuclear power.
Another knot to be solved together with Europe is the management of the various influences in the enlarged Mediterranean with an eye to the Libya question. Il Sole24Ore in this regard writes that in anticipation of a new American interest in the area, both Egypt and the Emirates did not protest much about the election of the new president of the Libyan presidential council, Mohammad Younes Menfi and the new prime minister, Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah. Appointments aimed only at calling new elections which, however, worry former foreign minister and vice president of the Italian EU Commission Franco Frattini for the pro-Islamic positions of the two personalities.
The stability of Libya is closely linked to the problem of migratory flows, an issue very dear to the Italian sovereign forces with which Draghi himself is trying to build the new government majority. Resuming Italy's historical role in Libya is therefore an essential prerogative, also in light of the fact that Biden has already said that Turkey and Russia must leave African territory as soon as possible.