Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo proud of Italy’s PM

Newswire

Rome: NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo has appreciated his country’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi for his efforts to save the multilateral order.

“Proud of my Prime Minister,” Ambassador Pontecorvo tweeted with a link to a news story about the G-20 summit.

After saving the euro, Mario Draghi has embarked on a new mission: saving the multilateral order, even as powerful autocrats seem intent on thwarting him.

As host of this weekend’s G20 leaders’ summit, Draghi — the former president of the European Central Bank famous for declaring he would do “whatever it takes” to save Europe’s common currency — is enjoying his most prominent role on the world stage since shifting into politics by accepting an appointment as Italy’s prime minister in February.

The summit in the Italian capital will be a key test for the functioning of the multilateral order as leaders wrestle with important and difficult decisions on the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and climate change.

Draghi’s international reputation, as the central banker who in the summer of 2012 saved the single euro currency at the peak of the debt crisis, is very high. But that might not be enough.

On climate, Italy, as the holder of the G20 presidency, has worked closely with the U.K., the current chair of the G7 and host of the COP26 climate conference that begins in Glasgow on Sunday.

But reaching a deal in Rome to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius hangs in the balance. “We especially need the biggest emitters, the G20 nations, to come forward with stronger commitments to 2030 if we are to keep 1.5 in reach over this critical decade,” declared Alok Sharma, the COP26 president.

Success in Rome, in terms of a firm commitment and financial backing, would send a strong message to the almost 200 nations that will gather in Scotland. A failure would make progress in Glasgow much harder.

On the pandemic, Draghi is also under pressure to get the G20 to deliver, particularly when it comes to providing vaccines to the developing world.

To achieve results, Draghi has embraced foreign policy and international relations. In Italy, as in the rest of Europe and beyond, these areas have increasingly become the domain of prime ministers or presidents, sidelining foreign ministers.

In advance of the summit, Draghi has worked mainly with his diplomatic adviser, Luigi Mattiolo, a former ambassador to Germany, and with Economy and Finance Minister Daniele Franco.

He arrives at the gathering having already helped secure a deal among G20 finance ministers for a plan that will see multinational companies pay a minimum tax rate around the world.

Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo himself is known for recently playing a hero’s role to evacuate foreigners from Afghanistan after then President Ashraf Ghani fled and the Taliban took over. The envoy took the last flight to Rome amid global appreciation.