ROME (Reuters) – Sergio Mattarella took office for a second term as Italy’s president on Thursday when he was sworn in before a joint session of both houses of parliament.
The reappointment of Mattarella, who had initially been reluctant to sign up for a second seven-year term, brought some temporary respite to tensions within Italy’s broad, ruling coalition after a week of fruitless efforts to find a successor.
Mattarella, 80, said last weekend that the ongoing coronavirus crisis and Italy’s difficult economic and social conditions meant he was duty bound to accept the decision of parliament to reappoint him.
Mattarella, who is from Sicily and is a former government minister, has won the respect of Italians with his quiet, unassuming manner and calm handling of repeated political crises and the health emergency.
In Italy’s political system, the president is a powerful figure who gets to appoint prime ministers and is often called on to resolve political crises. Governments in the euro zone’s third-largest economy survive around a year on average.
Political tensions are expected to rise in Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s broad coalition as parties jockey for support ahead of a national election due early next year.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
