(Bloomberg) -- Mario Draghi agreed to take over as Italy’s next prime minister, naming his ministers as he prepares to head a new government that will prioritize the pandemic, a struggling economy and moving ahead with European integration.
Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank, picked the Bank of Italy’s Daniele Franco as finance minister, and confirmed a Bloomberg News report that Roberto Cingolani, an executive at Leonardo SpA, would head a new ministry for ecological transition. He will be responsible for managing spending on green projects under the European Union’s recovery package.
Draghi reported back to President Sergio Mattarella Friday evening after two rounds of talks with political leaders. After securing broad support from all the country’s main parties except for the far-right Brothers of Italy, he told the head of state he was ready to form an administration.
This is a government “with a clear European and Atlantist profile,” said Francesco Clementi, a professor of comparative public law at Perugia University. “The ministers’ list shows a great awareness of the technical difficulty of governing in these difficult times, but also of the political perils that brings together very different parties.”
The former governor of the European Central Bank kept Luigi Di Maio as foreign minister, with the new administration set on carving out a bigger role for Italy alongside partners Angela Merkel of Germany and France’s Emmanuel Macron. Draghi has already told lawmakers he will push for a common euro-area budget, and Italy has taken up the rotating presidency of the Group of 20 nations.
On the new government’s agenda: a pandemic that’s claimed more than 90,000 lives in Italy, the worst recession since World War II, and a debt load at almost 160% of output. The cabinet, with several political appointees, reflects Draghi’s attempt to ensure support from rival forces.
Franco, director-general at the central bank, will play a key role in administering Italy’s 209 billion-euro share ($253 billion) of the EU’s recovery package, and in introducing measures to help families and businesses cope with the recession prompted by the pandemic and lockdowns.
Other key ministers include Giancarlo Giorgetti, minister for economic development. A veteran senior lawmaker with the League of Matteo Salvini, he has been pushing for the party to adopt a more pro-European stance.
(Updates with details of ministers from fourth paragraph)
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