The arrival at Palazzo Chigi of Domenico Arcuri in the afternoon of March 1, after the extraordinary commissioner for the coronavirus emergency had disappeared from the radars of press conferences and TV since Mario Draghi he became prime minister, he had foretold something. Arcuri remained in the Palazzo for about half an hour, and then left without making any comment to the press and with a less than optimal mood. What happened in those thirty minutes? To reveal some background of a foreseeable removal, but not announced, Laura Cesaretti on The newspaper. A break, a separation, a tear. The discontinuity from the Conte II government materialized with this passage, which was formalized with the “spontaneous” letter of resignation from Domenico Arcuri, personally requested by Mario Draghi.
Understandable the state of mind of the now former commissioner, in whose place an army corps general was called expert in military logistics, Francesco Paolo Figliuolo. As Laura Cesaretti reports, “no one expected it, and very few – even in the government – were informed, so much so that according to some even the Minister of Health Speranza was warned only at the last moment“. That there is still little confidence on the part of Mario Draghi for fear of a news leak? Impossible to know for sure, what is certain is that only when things have already been done, after the oath of the undersecretaries, was the official statement sent with the announcement of the replacement. As usually happens between gentlemen, which are both Draghi and Arcuri, the interview was “quiet and very cooperative“, as we read on The newspaper.
However, the aftertaste is bitter for Domenico Arcuri, who will now have to sign his own resignation letter. Officially, in fact, Mario Draghi cannot dismiss the commissioner, so much so that before saying goodbye, according to The Republic he would have said: “We would have to send the letter of resignation“. On the strength of his appointment by decree, the commissioner can”only be replaced with another decree. Or, precisely, with a ‘voluntary’ step back“. And Arcuri wasted no time. Back in his office he sent the e-mail. End of the Arcuri era, that Figliuolo is at the start. Mario Draghi has chosen to restart from a military expert to give a sign of discontinuity but also to finally put in practice in a massive and efficient way the plan for vaccinations against coronavirus. There have been many mistakes by Domenico Arcuri since he was appointed emergency commissioner. An undoubtedly difficult task that no one else had done before him but behind the choice of Mario Draghi something else could also be hidden, as Marco Bei wrote on The Republic, an investigation is being developed around the former Commissioner and “although Arcuri is not personally involved, it is not difficult to imagine that Draghi has accelerated on the turnover also to save a structure so exposed to possible judicial repercussions“.
Almost a month has passed since Mario Draghi arrived at Palazzo Chigi and, if we exclude the speech in the Senate for trust, he has not yet spoken to the country. Not that he is obliged to do so, but it is likely that one will be called in the next few days Press conference by the Prime Minister. There would be reasons, starting from the new dpcm, the first of its course, up to the dismantling of the top management of two of the most important structures in the management of the epidemic, the Civil Protection and the Commissioner.
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