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- A nation adrift
A nation adrift
Halt the Drift
A nation adrift. That is the impression we are giving Europe and the markets, which continue to chastise us they did yesterday. We should remember that Greece and Ireland went to the wall with bonds at seven per cent and yesterday, many in New York and London were betting on Italy’s bankruptcy. We must do everything possible to avoid this. Together. The Italy that works and does its duty does not deserve this.
The government has its responsibilities. Serious ones. Even though the crisis is global. Nothing has been done for growth since the ECB sent its letter to Italy on 5 August. The impact of the €59.6 billion budget has in part been eroded by the mushrooming cost of Italy’s debt and in part has yet to materialize. Too many declarations. Numerous U-turns. Squabbles in abundance. Puzzling conduct. The premier has vented about the euro and then corrected himself. Blaming Greece is not enough, even though Athens has opted for a nefarious referendum. The economy minister Tremonti did not write the letter of intent to the EU and affects an ostentatious detachment. Every day, his fellows in government and the majority call for his head. And the letter’s author – Renato Brunetta – takes satisfaction from the exclusion of his colleague and rival. Umberto Bossi blocks welfare reform and, speaking at a pumpkin fair, came up with regional pension differentials. Personal destinies take priority over general. The fear of losing votes outweighs that of losing the nation.
With few exceptions, the opposition has in recent days looked to be more concerned with Matteo Renzi’s ideas and the Byzantine intricacies of its own primary system than with laying out concrete proposals to show it has a European culture of government. Yesterday evening’s reactions to the president’s appeal for national responsibility are laudable. But there is not a single item from the ECB letter on which the Vasto troika of Bersani, Di Pietro and Vendola are completely in agreement.
Berlusconi’s day is done. His resistance no longer makes sense. He risks dragging down his party – which ought to be urging him to step aside – and, above all, Italy. The crisis is economic but also political and linked to Silvio Berlusconi. He should have announced before that he wasn’t going to stand again and then call an early election. Like Spain. Today, he has only one way forward. To go to the Cannes G20 with exceptional, immediate and, most importantly, credible measures and individual government stances appropriate to the drama of the moment. To show that we are a reliable, perfectly solvent nation that honors its commitments. In short, to behave like a statesman. At least on his last mile. From the disappointing outcome of yesterday’s council of ministers, it doesn’t look likely. Or, responsibly, to put an emergency government, perhaps under a majority politician, in place at once to reach agreement with the opposition on how to avert bankruptcy and the international shame of a cap-in-hand Italy.
2 novembre 2011 | 22:00© RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA
English translation by Giles Watson
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