Mario Draghi officially accepts mandate as Italy's new PM

ROME - Former president of the European Central Bank (ECB) 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 had received the task from Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Feb. 3, following the collapse of the previous government led by Giuseppe Conte after a junior ally pulled out of the coalition.

After a 45-minute meeting with the president, Draghi unveiled the official list of ministers sitting in the next cabinet.

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 Ministry for Economic Development.

Roberto Cingolani, scientific director of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), is appointed as Minister for Ecological Transition.

Luigi Di Maio, leader of Five Star Movement (M5S) 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 included 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 is acknowledged for preserving 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 the European Union member states.