The Italian parliament passed the first and perhaps last budget of Mario Draghi's government on Thursday.

It was a difficult birth.

The approval of the parliamentarians came with a considerable delay.

The government had to combine votes of confidence in Parliament and Senate with the adoption and shorten the debate time in order to get through.

This shows how fragile the broad coalition government of “national unity” is, which officially only the right-wing populist party Fratelli d'Italia is opposed to.

Christian Schubert

Economic correspondent for Italy and Greece.

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In the next few days, Draghi will have to say whether he will run for president.

After his hints at a press conference shortly before Christmas, quite a few observers are counting on his candidacy.

If successful, it could secure him the influence on Italian politics for another seven years, especially since the Italian President has considerably more powers than, for example, the German Federal President - so the respected incumbent Sergio Mattarella, who wants to give up the post soon, could, for example, one year In 2018, reject a euro opponent proposed by the then government as Minister of Economics.

In contrast, the post of prime minister has significantly more operational power, but it is also an uncertain matter that is subject to fluctuations in day-to-day politics.

The earlier terms of office of internationally respected predecessors such as Mario Monti or Romani Prodi are seen as rather daunting examples.

If Draghi were to aim for the presidential post, his calculation would mean that his successor would continue on his course.

More ambitious deleveraging is conceivable

With the budget for 2022, the former head of the ECB has definitely tried to send a special message. He knows that Italy, as the largest recipient of European reconstruction aid, is under special scrutiny. According to his will, the economy should free itself from the crisis with the help of investments and demand stimulation. Substantial funds are also available for social equalization. Budget consolidation, on the other hand, is not the top priority. The additional expenditure will increase by around 32 billion euros compared to 2021. Nevertheless, in 2022 new debt may fall from 9.4 to 5.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and total debt below 150 percent due to tax revenue as a result of strong economic growth.

A more ambitious debt reduction would be quite conceivable: According to a scenario calculated by the government that extrapolates the trends in income and expenditure without new government intervention, new debt could also shrink to 4.4 percent of GDP in the coming year - a good fifth lower than it is is now planned.

But the government decided otherwise because it wants to retain its creative power.