It was in July 2012 that Mario Draghi, then head of the European Central Bank, said he would do “whatever it takes” to defend the euro against speculative attack. Reassuring markets and resolving the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, his intervention saved Italy from additional borrowing costs, which could have sunk an economy that was “too big to fail” and imperilled the single currency. Exactly 10 years later, Mr Draghi’s premature departure as Italy’s prime minister – necessitating an early election in September – threatens to resurrect the debt demons of the past, along with some others for good measure.
Current polls suggest that the autumn vote will deliver the most extreme rightwing government in western Europe, comprising Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, the nationalist League, and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia as a junior partner. As leader of the largest party, Ms Meloni – whose illiberal politics closely resemble those of Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán – would be favourite to become prime minister. This prospect would be alarming in any context. Against the continental backdrop of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, a related energy crisis and the risk of recession, it constitutes a menace to European unity on multiple fronts.
