Mario Draghi: a leader loved only by Italian media

In Italy, the media are pushing Mario Draghi for a position in the future European Commission, if not directly at its head. It is a frankly humiliating situation for those who should be informing and critiquing power, who see the newspapers groveling, implying a change of gear or a European revolution, thanks to Mario’s introduction to the top echelons of power.

So we have pressure on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to take a stand for him, despite the fact that he is not an expression of the center-right; in fact, he is quite far from several positions of the current majority. Indeed, a choice of his would certainly go sideways with a substantial segment of the electorate.

This, however, is of no interest to those who seek to maneuver power without concern for what really matters to the people. The articles in Sole24Ore, the highly politicized Italian association of industrialists, are enough to show how popular he is with the big-industry minority economic system that has historically benefited foreign nations.

All this, however, is not stirring up any big ones abroad; in the end, there was only a small article in January from the Financial Times and something from Politico.eu in his favor or recalling his work. The French and German newspapers did not mention it at all: the appointment of the next president of the European commission and the various commissioners is their stuff, and, as happened with Gentiloni, they will choose whoever they want, even if the Italians do not like him. Thus, Draghi, who has been despised by the Germans ever since he presided over the ECB, is no longer involved.

After all, it would be very difficult to push him on the basis of his “great successes”: after the ECB and “whatever it takes” experience, his road has been uphill.
During COVID, he imposed vaccination and vaccination passes with a phrase that has remained famous: “You don’t vaccinate, you get sick, you die,” which later turned out not to be quite correct.

Later, when the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, he was a strong supporter of sanctions on Russia as Prime Minister, saying that Italians had to accept the huge energy costs, uttering the famous summer 2022 phrase, “You have to choose between air conditioning and peace.” He then said that sanctions would make their full force felt in the summer of 2022. A glaring mistake: Russia has not been brought to its knees by sanctions and its economy is now much stronger than in 2022, while it is Europe that has come out with broken bones.

Thus, it is evident that other European nations, which already oppose Italian leadership, are not at all enthused by Italy’s. At most, they might prefer a politician who has made more wise decisions.