Sergio Mattarella has been re-elected President of Italy
February 3, 2022, 3:54 pm

Sergio Mattarella has been re-elected President of Italy/Facebook page

The Devdiscourse reported, according to 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.

Italy heads to 4th round of voting to elect new president

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.

Italy bids farewell to European Parliament President David Sassoli

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.

Source: devdiscourse

Energy price cap in UK to increase by half from April Kremlin urges US to stop inflaming tensions over Ukraine

Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.