Italian Parliament Ratified the New Government Led by Draghi

The lower house of Italy's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to ratify former European Central Bank (ECB) head Mario Draghi as prime minister amid the dual challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst economic slump since World War II.
A day after getting the nod from the Senate, the 73-year-old economist and his Cabinet of party politicians and technocrats won the confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies by a margin of 535-56 with five abstentions.
As was the case in the Senate, most of the "no" votes in the Chamber came from the far-right Brothers of Italy, the only parliamentary party not represented in the new government.
Yet 12 deputies from the reformist Five-Star Movement (M5S), which is part of the Draghi-led coalition, also voted against ratifying the government, while four others abstained and a dozen did not participate.
Roughly 60 percent of M5S members supported Draghi in an internal plebiscite and the party leadership said on Thursday that the 15 senators and 32 deputies who declined to vote "yes" would be expelled for ignoring the wishes of the membership.
One of the new premier's first official acts will be to take part in Friday's virtual summit of leaders of the G7 nations.
In relatively brief comments between the debate and the vote in the Chamber of Deputies, Draghi talked about the need to tackle graft and organized crime.
Corruption and the danger of "criminal interference" have a negative effect on free competition at home and on Italy's ability to compete in the global economy, he said.
Along the same lines, Draghi pointed to the need to bring Italian judicial procedures up to those of other European Union nations in terms of efficiency and timeliness and said that Justice Minister Marta...