The winner of the Italian elections and likely next prime minister Giorgia Meloni has been criticised for imitating her predecessor Mario Draghi by picking technocrats for key ministries instead of politicians.

After her electoral triumph last month, Meloni is now trying to build a government with the other two right coalition partners, Matteo Salvini’s Lega and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.

Rumours in Rome suggest that Meloni is facing her allies’ critics for her apparent desire to have a “high-profile” executive, which may need technocrats and not politicians to get the job done in essential ministries.

Many even compared her with Draghi, a technocrat himself.

“In this government, I put my face. I want to do well; the moment is important; we will make our best effort”, Meloni said at a party meeting, which lasted two and a half hours.

Meanwhile, her allies have started complaining and offering names.

The first was Salvini, who asked to run the ministry of domestic affairs again. Meloni has not confirmed any name so far.

Troubles with Recovery Fund?

A key challenge of Italy’s next government will be the absorption of the EU money from the Recovery Fund with the necessary reforms that need to be carried out.

But Meloni stressed that the Draghi government has caused delays in the program’s implementation and that her government will have to face them.

“We inherit a difficult situation: the delays in the national recovery plan are evident and difficult to recover, and we are aware that it will be a shortcoming that does not depend on us but will also be attributed to us by those who determined it”, she said.

Draghi reacted immediately, saying there were no delays in implementing the national plan.

“If there were, the Commission would not pay out the money. The government has taken all the necessary measures to facilitate effective implementation of the National Recovery Plan,” Draghi said.

“It is, of course, up to the next government to continue the implementation, and I am sure that it will be done with the same strength and effectiveness”, Draghi added.

Meloni then took a step back, in an effort, according to some, to reconcile with Draghi.

“The [current] government says by the end of the year we will spend €21 billion of the €29.4 we had. We say, in a constructive spirit, that we must do even better”, she said.

Contacted by EURACTIV before the elections in Italy, a European Commission spokesperson said, “The Italian plan includes an extensive set of mutually reinforcing reforms and investments that contribute to effectively addressing a significant subset of the economic and social challenges outlined in the country-specific recommendations addressed to Italy by the Council in the European Semester in 2019 and in 2020.”

“The recommendations, as well as the reforms and investments included in the Italian recovery and resilience plan, remain valid,” the EU official said.

(Federica Pascale | EURACTIV.it – Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com)

Source: Euractiv.com