Italy: With Draghi, Italy has a chance to set aside Conte’s economic misadventures - by Jean Jacques Handali

While Conte may have been independent of his populist backers on paper, his economic policies nonetheless reflected the dirigism of the Five Stars who brought him to power. Conte took advantage of his "golden powers" to launch heavy-handed state interventions in the economy. These include a push to have Milan-based Unicredit buy the state’s share of Monte dei Paschi di Siena; the re-nationalization of failing national carrier Alitalia; the hostile takeover of toll road operator Autostrade per l’Italia; and the state’s insistence that broadband operators Telecom Italia (TIM) and Open Fiber merge into one company.

Thanks to Matteo Renzi, Conte is now leaving each of these dossiers half-finished. As Italy looks to Draghi, one of its most renowned financial minds, to lead the country out of dual financial and public health crises, one of the new premier’s first decisions will be whether to continue Conte’s statist economic policies. In both Rome and Brussels, many hope – and expect – the answer will be a simple "no".

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/20/with-draghi-italy-has-a-chance-to-set-aside-conte-s-economic-misadventures-view