Government of Italy (Council of Ministers of Italy -Consiglio dei ministri)

The Council of Ministers is the collegial body of the executive branch of Italy.

The government includes, among other things:

• Italian Ministry of Defence
• Italian Ministry of the Interior (Ministero Dell Interno)

History

2022: Prime Minister Mario Draghi resigns

On July 21, 2022, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi officially resigned, Italian President Sergio Mattarella accepted it.

The former head of the European Central Bank held out in the prime minister's chair for a year and a half. And during this time, he managed to lose the support of three large parties at once, which were part of the ruling coalition. Formally, the political crisis erupted due to the position of the leader of the 5 Star Movement Giuseppe Conte, who did not like Draghi's bill on a package of economic assistance to families and companies in the amount of 23 billion euros - he considered support measures insufficient.

However, the local press has already managed to find a long hand of the Kremlin in this story: for example, the newspaper La Republicca claims that forces friendly towards Russia played a big role in the collapse of the Italian government or, as outgoing Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio put it, "winking at Vladimir Putin." Apparently, Luigi Di Maio is seriously concerned about Italy's observance of Euro-Atlantic principles and the prospects for further support for Ukraine.

The stumbling block was indeed, among other things, the decision to provide assistance to Ukraine - including military. In addition, Draghi was one of the toughest critics of Russian policy and an ardent supporter of anti-Russian sanctions, which supported only a little more than 30% of the population. As a result of such unpopular decisions of "Super Mario" (namely, this is how the budding prime minister was initially called), ordinary Italians faced a sharp jump in prices for fuel and essential goods, and also remembered what food queues were - and hastened to splash out their dissatisfaction on the streets of cities.

The allocation of a new aid package from the EU to Italy is now in question. Most likely, a technical government will be formed - it will take the reins before the parliamentary elections, the favorite of which sociologists call the party "Brothers of Italy." In April 2022, its members also advocated a bill of military support for Ukraine.