Now that the Italian Parliament is anesthetized, Draghi's game is all played away. Vaccines and billions of the Recovery Fund must be taken home and, to win, it should draw inspiration from Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, that is, bet everything on Europe and its majority shareholder: Germany.

The timing would be perfect: with the departure of Angela Merkel next September and Emmanuel Macron in the spring of 2022, Draghi has all it takes to become the most influential European premier. Already in his debut on Friday at the meeting of the G7 leaders, connected by videoconference in front of an "Ikea-Santa Marta style" table, in a clear break with the pompous stuccos and velvets of the former PM Conte, "SuperMario" was even more well-known and acclaimed than the other debutant, US President Joe Biden. And to say that only 24 hours earlier he found himself having to experience a “noble move of human piety” by the outgoing Five Stars PM Rosa Alba Testamento, who described his Executive as a "government of restoration", "a crowd" and him as "linked to large investment banks and financial giants" who have squandered Italy.

A telltale sign of the battle plans for which Draghi is preparing is in the choice of technicians that he has not gathered around him, the so-called "little dragons". Contrary to expectations, Fabio Panetta remained at the European Central Bank, Dario Scannapieco at the European Investment Bank and not even Ignazio Angeloni was summoned to Rome. Indeed, the negotiation on the Recovery Fund is now imminent and there would not have been time to replace them adequately in Frankfurt, besides the fact that having them there is certainly a guarantee.

The method of approach that the Italian premier will have with the USA, China, Russia and Turkey will inevitably be intertwined with financial and foreign policy issues. And this is a problem, because the tradition of Treasury and Bank of Italy officials has always kept diplomacy at a safe distance, perceived as too verbose. The circuit of finance ministers and central bankers, with its G7 and the rite of meetings of the International Monetary Fund and of Jackson Hole, is parallel and independent from the diplomatic one. The impression is that China, for now, is relying by inertia on the Brussels line, with Biden not retreating, for now, with respect to the anathemas of the old and battered Trump. China’s EU policy has been dangerously asymmetrical for years in favor of Germany and to the detriment of the rest of the Union.

But even more important is the renewed link with the US, due to its political and security implications. Only if the transatlantic axis strengthens, the EU and the United States will be able to face, after the virus, even more dangerous challenges such as cyber attacks, increasingly coming from the East. Then there is the open question of Russia. French intelligence sources think that there is a 50 percent chance that Putin will fall within 6-12 months, especially after the Russian court confirmed the sentence against the opponent Aleksei Navalny, who therefore remains in prison. At that point China would be more isolated, as would Turkey. However, if Tsar Vladimir manages to override the next 18 months, repressing the protests that will multiply, then it could further strengthen, with the end of Covid, the global economy in recovery and the price of oil rising.

From the stars of foreign policy we then move on to the stables of Rome, with the usual mandarins assaulting seats in the cabinets of ministers and valiant heads of department who are taken out with a cleaver. In line with the calendar, the traditional carnival of appointments is taking place (Trenitalia, Anas, Rai, Rfi, etc. etc.) with the new Minister of Economy, Daniele Franco, a leading man in the magic circle of Draghi, who is faced with the great dilemma of whether to remove Alessandro Profumo from the strategic company Leonardo, super protected by Paolo Gentiloni, after the reasons for the recent sentence coming from the Court of Milan will be disclosed. The same EU Commissioner has already placed another familiar as head of the cabinet at Palazzo Chigi, a parsley for all seasons, alias Antonio Funiciello. Who knows if before the appointment Draghi was aware of his book "The art of government between lies and shamelessness", and of sexist utterances in full contrast with the openings of the head of the government on young people and women. And the EU Commissioner is always intent on sponsoring, in full conflict of interest, sister-in-law Alessandra dal Verme for a place in the sun. Count Gentiloni has a family, too. / Il Tempo