But warns against ‘U-turn’ if PM elected president
ANSA – The Economist has crowned Italy as its country of the year for 2021 saying it has “changed” with Premier Mario Draghi, a “competent premier respected at an international level” whose work at the helm of a national-unity government has made Italy “better than a year ago”.
It said there is a “majority that has buried its differences in support of a programme of sweeping reforms” in the light of the EU-funded post-COVID National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). The Italian economy, The Economist said, is recovering better and faster than France and Germany’s. But it warned of the “danger that this unusual explosion of governance may suffer a U-turn” if Draghi were to be elected Italian president, “a more ceremonial role”, making way for a “less competent” premier. Recent opinion polls say about three quarters of Italians want Draghi to stay on as premier until the natural end of the parliamentary term in 2023, rather than being elected president early next year, a job he has not said he wants.
Which is The Economist’s country of the year for 2021?
TheEconomist – Each year The Economist picks a “country of the year”. The award goes not to the biggest, the richest or the happiest, but to the one that in our view improved the most in 2021. Past winners have included Uzbekistan (for abolishing slavery), Colombia (for making peace) and Tunisia (for embracing democracy).
Billionaires Battling Bankers Is Not a Good Look for Draghi
Washington Post – Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi wants to make his country more friendly to outside investors. But an ongoing power struggle involving its largest insurer, its richest man and its most powerful investment banker is not a good look. Leonardo Del Vecchio’s fortune of nearly 40 billion euros ($45.1 billion) is rooted in his eyewear group Luxottica Group SpA, which he merged with French lensmaker Essilor in 2018. The 86-year-old has now turned his steely gaze to Italian finance and does not like what he sees at Italy’s largest insurer — Assicurazioni Generali SpA, a core institution of European finance and one of the biggest buyers of Italy’s sovereign debt.
Economist incorona Draghi: “L’Italia è il Paese dell’anno”
Adnkronos – Italia Paese del’anno 2021 grazie a Mario Draghi. L”onore’ viene riconosciuto dall’Economist, che definisce il premier “competente e rispettato a livello internazionale… auguroni!”. L’Italia, spiega l’Economist, non è il Paese dell’anno per i suoi successi agli europei di calcio o delle sue pop star all’Eurovisione, ma lo è “per la sua politica”. “Con Mario Draghi, ha acquisito un primo ministro competente, rispettato internazionalmente. Per una volta – scrive il settimanale – un’ampia maggioranza dei suoi politici ha sepolto le differenze per sostenere un programma di approfondite riforme, il che porterà l’Italia ad avere i fondi che le spettano nel recovery plan dell’Ue”.
