Italy's premier seeks confidence vote to decide if he stays

Premier Mario Draghi has asked Italy’s Senate to vote on whether it wants him to stay in office

Premier Mario Draghi asked Italy's Senate on Wednesday to vote on whether it wants him to stay in office and take back an offer to resign he made last week following the betrayal of senators from a populist partner in his coalition government.

Appearing for a second time before Parliament's upper house, Mr. Draghi cited an “unprecedented” outpouring of public pleas for him to continue governing amid soaring inflation, rising energy prices, the war in Ukraine and Italy's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Draghi told the senators after hours of debate, including squabbles among members of coalition partners, that “at this point, I could declare my resignation and leave the hall.”

But because the “mobilization that I have seen by citizens” and various associations is “without precedent," Mr. Draghi said he instead was submitting to a vote a pact that would reconfirm the loyalty of the parties in his coalition.

Mr. Draghi said his government's fate would be decided with a resolution, lodged by a veteran centrist senator, Pier Ferdnando Casini, that calls for the approval of what the premier proposed as his condition for remaining in his post.

Senators from various parties began staking their positions in speeches to the chamber.

Even without the populist 5-Star Movement’s senators, who triggered Mr. Draghi's offer to step down by refusing to back the government’s energy relief bill, the premier could still muster a comfortable majority in the Senate.