Mario Draghi forms new government in Italy, politicians and technocrats named as ministers

ROME — Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank, confirmed on Friday he was ready to form Italy's next government and unveiled a cabinet with a mix of technocrats and politicians from his broad coalition.

President Sergio Mattarella asked Draghi to be prime minister after party wrangling brought down the previous administration, and set him the task of tackling the coronavirus health crisis and economic meltdown.

Following a week of consultations, almost all the main parties from across the political spectrum pledged their support to Draghi, and prominent figures from these groups were named as ministers.

Draghi is widely credited with pulling the euro zone back from the brink of collapse in 2012, pledging to do "whatever it takes" to save the single European currency.

The last time a technocrat took charge was in 2011, when another economist, Mario Monti, was entrusted with helping Italy out of a debt crisis. Parliamentarians soon turned on him when they deemed that his economic medicine was too pungent.