ROME (AP) — Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi has agreed to try to form a non-political government to steer Italy through the coronavirus pandemic. Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday gave Draghi a mandate to put together a new government to replace caretaker Premier Giuseppe Conte’s collapsed coalition of the 5-Star Movement and Democratic Party. The task won’t be easy, since the populist party with the most seats in Parliament said it won’t support a Draghi government. Nevertheless markets welcomed indications that Italy’s latest political crisis might get resolved at least for the next few months. Draghi is credited with having saved the euro during the peak of Europe’s debt crisis in 2012.
