Category Archives: Mario Draghi

G7 leaders seek right balance in dealing with their China dilemma

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Analysis: can the west confront Beijing on trade and human rights and cooperate on the climate crisis?

• G7 summit: latest news and reaction

In an extra-secure, 90-minute session, with the phones and wifi cut off, all designed to block any eavesdropping by a prying foreign state, leaders of the G7, with glorious St Ives sunshine outside, wrestled with an issue that will probably dominate the rest of their political lives – China and the right balance between extreme competition and necessary cooperative coexistence.

Kurt Campbell, Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific policy director, describes the dilemma as presenting “complex coexistence paradigms”, something of which he says the US has had little previous experience.

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G7 leaders in the UK: what are their agendas?

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Joe Biden wants alternative to Chinese belt and road offer while Japanese PM’s interests are more domestic

Leaders of the world’s seven leading industrialised nations will meet in Cornwall this weekend to agree a communique on how to redraw the world post-Covid, but also to pursue their own agendas and try to forge new personal relations after nearly 18 months apart.

1. Joe Biden has restored order, calm and direction to US international alliances, but now has to show what he will do with that goodwill.

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US must export doses before waiving Covid vaccine patents, say EU leaders

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Frustration expressed at what several leaders see as the US president’s attempt to claim the moral high ground

EU leaders have given short shrift to a proposal by Joe Biden and backed by the pope to waive Covid-19 vaccine patents as a way to increase supply, insisting that the White House should instead allow the export of doses and the key ingredients.

At a summit in Porto, a series of European leaders, including those who had previously appeared open to suspending intellectual property rights, said Biden’s idea was not a priority and expressed frustration at the US president’s attempt to claim the moral high ground.

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Italian PM calls Erdoğan ‘a dictator’ after Ursula von der Leyen chair snub

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Diplomatic spat erupts as Mario Draghi accuses Turkish president of humiliating European commision president

A diplomatic spat has erupted between Turkey and Italy, after prime minister Mario Draghi accused president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of humiliating European commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and described him as a “dictator”.

Von der Leyen – the commission’s first female president – was left without a chair during a meeting on Tuesday with Erdoğan and the European council president Charles Michel met Erdoğan. The commission chief was clearly taken aback when the two men sat on the only two chairs prepared, relegating her to an adjacent sofa.

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Italian ex-prime minister Enrico Letta elected to lead Democratic party

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Letta to lead second largest party in Draghi government as Giuseppe Conte in talks to lead Five Star Movement

A former Italian prime minister, Enrico Letta, has been elected leader of the centre-left Democratic party (PD), the second largest party in Mario Draghi’s government, as another former prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, was in talks to become leader of the Five Star Movement (M5S), its largest.

Letta takes over from Nicola Zingaretti, who abruptly quit the party’s leadership earlier this month over what he called an “unending stream” of criticism, and was elected on Sunday with 860 votes in favour and two against.

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New prime minister, Mario Draghi, vows to speed up Italy’s Covid vaccinations

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Italy recorded 336 more coronavirus deaths – the second highest rate in Europe

Italy’s new prime minister, Mario Draghi, has pledged to speed up the country’s coronavirus vaccination programme as he presented his government’s priorities before a confidence vote in the upper house of parliament on Wednesday.

In his much-anticipated maiden speech, Draghi, who was sworn into office on Saturday, said the government’s first duty was to “fight the pandemic by all means and safeguard the lives of citizens”.

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Italians want Mario Draghi to deliver ‘normality’ – and therein lies the danger | Lorenzo Marsili

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The problems Europe faces will not be solved by a return to the status quo – complete overhaul of a bankrupt system is needed

“Would it not be simpler for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?” Bertolt Brecht’s line is often quoted after dubious upsets in the democratic process – such as the imposition of Mario Monti’s austerity administration in Italy in 2011, or the crushing of Syriza’s aspirations in Greece in 2015. And yet, Mario Draghi’s top-down appointment as Italy’s new prime minister tells a different story, one that doubles as a cautionary tale for the rest of Europe.

A recent survey shows that 85% of Italians approve of the former European Central Bank chief and establishment prodigy running the government following the collapse of Giuseppe Conte’s administration. This is an astonishing result for a country where combined support for populist parties represented an absolute majority at the last elections. How can such a glaring contradiction be explained?

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Mario Draghi sworn in as prime minister of Italy

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Former European Central Bank chief to lead unity government as it tackles Covid and economic slump

The former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi has been sworn in as Italy’s prime minister at the head of a unity government called on to confront the coronavirus crisis and economic slump.

Draghi, a respected figure at home and internationally, managed to convince almost all of the country’s main parties to support his government, with leaders from the far-right League and populist Five Star Movement (M5S) adopting more moderate, pro-European tones in recent days.

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Mario Draghi’s new government to be sworn in on Saturday

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Italians optimistic as former ECB chief appoints mix of political and technocratic ministers to cabinet

Italy’s new government, led by former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, will be sworn in on Saturday, ending weeks of political turmoil.

Draghi, 73, announced his cabinet, which contains a mix of political and technocratic ministers, to president Sergio Mattarella on Friday.

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Enter the Draghi: can ‘Super Mario’ save Italy as he did the euro?

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Called on to lead Italy’s government in crisis, the former central banker will need all the skills he honed saving the European currency

“Whatever it takes.” Three simple words that tamed the financial markets, saved the euro from possible collapse and turned Mario Draghi from an Italian technocrat into the central banker of his generation.

And an obvious choice to head a new coalition government in Rome at a time when the country is facing the triple whammy of Covid-19, economic collapse and political chaos.

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Mario Draghi accepts mandate to form new Italian government

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Former ECB chief summoned by President Mattarella after collapse of Conte’s coalition in January

Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank chief, has accepted a mandate to try to form a new Italian government as the country seeks a way out of the political crisis triggered by the collapse of its most recent coalition.

Draghi, nicknamed “Super Mario” for his role in saving the European single currency, will have to galvanise support in parliament to quickly build a technical administration needed to manage the coronavirus pandemic and revive its battered economy.

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Italian president Sergio Mattarella to seek a ‘high-profile’ government

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Media speculations suggest former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi could become prime minister

Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, has said he would seek a “high profile” government, as speculation grew that it may be led by the former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.

Mattarella made the announcement after ruling coalition partners failed to form a majority following Giuseppe Conte’s resignation as prime minister last week.

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ECB announces fresh stimulus as eurozone economy falters

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Mario Draghi says bank will reboot quantitative easing in month Lagarde succeeds him

The European Central Bank has announced a fresh stimulus package in an attempt to prevent the fragile eurozone economy from grinding to a halt, with an interest rate cut and plans to pump €20bn (£19bn) a month into the financial markets.

In one of his final acts in his ECB presidency, before Christine Lagarde takes charge in November, Mario Draghi said governments across the eurozone needed to take greater steps to reboot growth by ramping up public spending or cutting taxes.

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Investors await signal on fresh ECB economic stimulus – business live

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Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news as Mario Draghi expected to prepare central bank for interest rate cuts

It will be too late for the ECB’s interest rates decision, but the latest measure of German business confidence from the influential Ifo Institute shows that morale has sagged more than expected in July.

The closely followed measure fell to a reading of 95.7 – well below the consensus expectations of 97.1.

Boris Johnson is planning to set out his “priorities for government” in his first appearance as prime minister in the house of commons – at about 10:30am BST.

Perhaps he can shed some more light on what will be happening by 31 October, the Brexit deadline.

Following Business Qs, there will be one government oral statement in the @HouseofCommons today:

The Prime Minister - Priorities for Government

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