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A30 world news
Diabierna 15 Juli 2022

Italian Premier Draghi's resignation is rebuffed -- for now

see if he can still garner solid Mattarella had tapped the for- to, yes," said Emma Bonino,
support, a palace statement mer European Central Bank who leads a tiny pro-Europe
said. chief — who was known as party.
The next showdown in Par- "Super Mario" for his "what-
liament is set for July 20, ever it takes" rescue of the Draghi has governed with the
when Draghi will formally euro — to pull Italy out of support of virtually all of Ita-
pitch for support ahead of a the pandemic and lay the ly's main parties, with the ex-
confidence vote — this time groundwork to make use of ception of the fast-rising far-
not on a specific bill but on billions in European Union right Brothers of Italy party.
his government's very viabil- pandemic recovery funds. The potential implosion of
ity. The 5-Stars, who have lost Draghi's coalition triggered
significant support in re- fresh demands by the party's
"Now there are five days to cent local elections and have leader, Giorgia Meloni, for an
work so that Parliament con- slumped in opinion polls, are early election that she hopes
firms its confidence in the in disarray. will be her springboard to
Draghi government and Italy becoming Italy's first woman
emerges as rapidly as possible In the measure Thursday, the premier.
(AP) — Italian Premier demic. from the dramatic unravel- 5-Stars opposed a provision Giovanni Orsina, a history
Mario Draghi offered to ing" of the last hours, tweeted to allow Rome to operate a professor and director of
step down Thursday after Hours earlier Thursday, Enrico Letta, the head of the garbage incinerator on the the school of government at
a populist coalition part- Draghi and his government Democratic Party, a Draghi outskirts of the chronically Rome's LUISS university,
ner refused to vote for won a confidence vote, 172- ally and a former premier. trash-choked Italian capital. correctly predicted that Mat-
a key bill in Parliament, 39, in the Senate despite the In the debate, some senators tarella would ask Draghi to
but the nation's president refusal by the 5-Star Move- In Brussels, the European praised Draghi as a pivotal find a new, workable major-
quickly rebuffed him, ment to back the bill, which Union's finance commis- figure in Europe as Russia ity.
leaving one of Western earmarked 26 billion euros sioner, Paolo Gentiloni, a wages war against Ukraine,
Europe's main leaders at (dollars) to help consum- former Italian premier, said especially with the impend- "We've got the pandemic, we
the helm for now. ers and industries struggling officials there were "follow- ing departure of British got the war, we have infla-
with soaring energy prices. ing with worried astonish- Prime Minister Boris John- tion, we have the energy cri-
The rejection of the tendered But the dramatic snub, or- ment" the potential unravel- son. sis. So certainly this is not a
resignation left in limbo the chestrated by 5-Star leader ing of Draghi's coalition. good moment," Orsina said.
future of Draghi's 17-month- Giuseppe Conte, Draghi's Center-right Sen. Antonio "Mattarella believes, rightly,
old government, officially predecessor, did its damage. The uncertainty over Draghi's Saccone thundered that the that his mission is to safe-
known as a national unity co- staying power also appeared 5-Stars were "doing a favor" guard stability."
alition, but with its survival Shortly before heading to to rattle the markets. The to Russian President Vladi-
sorely tested by increasingly the Quirinal presidential pal- Milan stock exchange lost mir Putin by causing political Among Draghi's achieve-
sharp divergences within the ace to tender his resignation, 3.44% on Thursday. instability. ments has been keeping Italy
coalition. Draghi declared: "The major- If Draghi can't solidly stitch Recently, Conte had waffled on track with reforms that
ity of national unity that has back together a durable coali- for a while over whether to the EU has made a condition
Draghi's broad coalition gov- sustained this government tion, Mattarella could pull the keep supporting military aid for the country to receive 200
ernment — which includes from its creation doesn't exist plug on Parliament, setting for Ukraine, but eventually billion euros (dollars) in pan-
parties from the right, the any more." the stage for an early election backed Draghi on pledging demic recovery assistance.
left, the center and the popu- as soon as late September. fresh assistance. Much of that EU funding is
list 5-Star Movement — was But President Sergio Mat- Currently, Parliament's term Being in a government "is not already allocated, suggesting
designed to help Italy recover tarella told Draghi to instead expires in spring 2023. like picking up a menu and it won't be lost even amid
from the coronavirus pan- go back to Parliament and deciding, antipasto, no, gela- government instability.

Macron: Turn out the lights, brace for Russian gas cutoff

(AP) — French President Em- He said the government would pre- erything so that Russia doesn't win, tory. We don't want a world war."
manuel Macron warned his coun- pare a "sobriety plan" to conserve en- so that Ukraine can defend its terri-
try's people Thursday to prepare ergy, which would start with turning
for a total cutoff of Russian natu- off public lights at night when they
ral gas by supporting alternatives, aren't useful.
having public lights switched off
at night and engaging in a period France will keep looking to diversify
of nationwide energy "sobriety." gas sources, he said, calling for a faster
shift toward offshore windfarms and
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and more European cross-border energy
ensuing sanctions have aggravated cooperation to weather the current
other factors driving up prices for en- crisis.
ergy and others goods. With no end
in sight for the Ukraine war, Macron Macron's political opponents on the
said, the French should brace them- far right and far left have blamed EU
selves for costs to remain high. sanctions for reducing the purchasing
power of French consumers while
"This war will continue," he said in a failing to persuade Russian President
televised interview marking France's Vladimir Putin to pull troops out of
national holiday, Bastille Day. "The Ukraine.
summer, early autumn will be very
hard." France's president gave no indication
during the interview of policy shift
"Russia is using energy, like it is using toward Ukraine.
food, as a weapon of war," Macron "What do you want us to do?" he
said. "We should prepare ourselves asked. "We want to stop this war
for the scenario where we have to go without getting involved in this war.
without all Russian gas." At the same time, we want to do ev-