With a series of maneuvers that could have made Machiavelli blush,
the former prime minister gave Italy a new government. Just don’t expect anyone to thank him for it.
Credit…
ROME — When Matteo Renzi, the former Italian prime minister currently polling at about 3 percent, triggered the collapse of the Italian government last month, he became the target of near universal opprobrium and bewilderment for plunging the country into political chaos in the middle of a pandemic.
Now he is taking a victory lap.
Mr. Renzi’s gambit not only caused the fall of a prime minister and government he had excoriated as dangerously incompetent. It also resulted in a stunning upgrade that has led Mario Draghi, a titan of Europe largely credited with saving the euro, to assemble a broad national unity government, which is expected to take shape this week.
In Europe, Mr. Draghi’s renown has immediately increased Italy’s stature and credibility in absorbing and spending a huge relief package that could determine the future of both Italy and the European Union. At home, the gravity of Mr. Draghi’s arrival has reordered the Italian political landscape and undercut Mr. Renzi’s populist enemies.
“This was my strategy. I did it all alone, with 3 percent!” said Mr. Renzi, a onetime mayor of Florence who is not bashful about his ability to work the levers of power and outmaneuver the competition. “It’s all a game of parliamentary tactics. And let’s say that working for five years in the palace where Machiavelli worked helped a little.” … leggi tutto
