MILAN (AP) — The former Italian premier who triggered the collapse of a successor’s government threw his support Friday behind former bank chief Mario Draghi to…
MILAN (AP) — The former Italian premier who triggered the collapse of a successor’s government threw his support Friday behind former bank chief Mario Draghi to head up Italy’s next government, which will have the job of allocating more than 200 billion euros ($240 billion) in European Union funds to relaunch the country’s pandemic-ravaged economy. Matteo Renzi, who set off a political crisis by pulling his tiny Italy Alive party from the governing coalition led by Premier Giuseppe Conte, said having former European Central Bank chief Draghi as prime minister “is an insurance for the lives of our children and grandchildren,’’ and that there is no one better to handle the EU recovery funds. “Never has our country had so much money since after the war. It is more than the Marshall Plan,’’ Renzi told reporters, referring to the U.S.-financed program for rebuilding Europe after World War II. “Who can manage this transition better than Draghi?” The former premier spoke after meeting with Draghi, who was in his second day of consulting Italy’s fractious parties after being tapped by President Sergio Mattarella to try to pull together a government to guide the debt-riddled country through the health and economic crises it is confronting.
