Mario Draghi leaves Palazzo Chigi after twenty months of government that have left their mark in Italy and abroad, but he has not yet thought about his future working. Perhaps, the first thing to do should be to rest a little, joke (but up to a certain point) his closest collaborators. Of course, few manage to see him take care of their grandchildren like any other pensioner, as he himself had seen, among the various possible options, in the press conference at the end of the year in 2021.
The University
And even if the virtual grandfather of Italy does not yet seem to have seriously thought about the aftermath (“well, I haven’t thought about this yet”, he says to those who try to question him on the subject), surely he will not miss some fixed points, starting with role of honorary governor of the Bank of Italy. And there are those who are convinced that he will return to be a professor, underlines those close to him.
His network
The passion for the academy, the contact with young people, the lessons have always fascinated him. And equally certainly he will reopen the agenda of his important international contacts, his network made up of meetings, initiatives and projects with world-class personalities. In the background (but nothing has ever leaked from the person concerned, and nothing comes out about it from those who have followed him in recent years) a whirlwind of hypotheses that would see him, sooner or later, in another institutional role.
From NATO to the Quirinale
In September 2023, for example, the office of Jens Stoltenberg, current NATO secretary general, will expire. After having been head of the government in Italy, Mario Draghi would now have all the right cards to take his place, we think in political and economic circles. Also in Brussels, many would like Mario Draghi as president of the EU Commission: the mandate of Ursula von der Leyen will expire on October 31, 2024. In the same circles there is still a bet on a future at Colle. The fact remains that Sergio Mattarella’s second seven-year period has just begun. And the times for the election of a new President of the Republic, barring surprises, are very long.
Reserve of the Republic
More realistic, on paper, his appointment as a senator for life, as is being aired in some political sectors. But the fact is that, beyond the wishes and assumptions of others, for the former premier, apart from the fact that he is always and in any case a reserve of the Republic, the future work is to be evaluated and built.