Former President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi has officially accepted the mandate as Italy's new prime minister, Secretary-General to the Presidency of the Republic Ugo Zampetti stated on Friday. 
  
He was asked to take the task by Italian President Sergio Mattarella on February 3, following the collapse of the previous government led by Giuseppe Conte after a junior ally pulled out of the coalition. Following a week of consultations, almost all the main parties from across the political spectrum have endorsed Draghi. He received a boost on Thursday when the largest group in parliament, the Five Star Movement, agreed to support the government, meaning it will have such a large majority that no single party will have the numbers to bring it down.

After a 45-minute meeting with the president, Draghi unveiled the official list of ministers in the next cabinet that mixes unaffiliated technocrats with politicians from across his broad coalition. 
  
New key figures will be Daniele Franco, current Bank of Italy's senior deputy governor, as Minister of Economy and Finance; and Giancarlo Giorgietti, a senior figure in the right-wing League party, as Minister for Economic Development. 
  
Roberto Cingolani, scientific director of the Italian Institute of Technology, was appointed Minister for Ecological Transition. 
  
Luigi Di Maio from the Five Star Movement majority party was confirmed in the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs, along with Luciana Lamorgese as Interior Minister, Roberto Speranza as Health Minister, and Lorenzo Guerini as Defence Minister. 
  
Other cabinet members include Marta Cartabia, former president of Italy's Constitutional Court, as Justice Minister, and economist Renato Brunetta as Minister of Public Administration.

The new cabinet will be sworn in at the Quirinale Palace on Saturday, Draghi told a press conference. Next week, it will go before both houses of the parliament for the necessary votes of confidence. 
  
Draghi, 73, was governor of the Bank of Italy between 2005 and 2011. He served as chief of the European Central Bank from 2011 to 2019. He has been recognized for his work to preserve the euro during the worst of the debt crisis in 2012, and for launching the bond-buying Quantitative Easing scheme to support the economies of European Union member states. 

Now, Draghi must deal with the coronavirus health crisis and the economic meltdown pummeling the country. 

(With input from Xinhua, Reuters)

(Cover: Incoming Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi speaks to the media after meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in Rome, Italy, February 12, 2021. /Reuters)