Why not? Italy is the ninth largest economy in the world, after all. If its economy collapse, EU’s economy will follow suit. And America’s economy will also almost immediately deteriorate too.
The problem is that during the last two years Italy has already changed two governments and a new one is coming soon.
The short love story between former Premier Enrico Letta and the Democratic Party (Partito Democratico) ironically ended on Valentine’s Day. The PD led by Matteo Renzi had, in fact, sponsored his boss’ call for a new executive during the course of a meeting held on Thursday, February 13. The assembly was overwhelmingly in favor of Renzi’s proposal.
Enrico Letta was forced to submit his resignation to Head of State Giorgio Napolitano on Friday, opening the way for Renzi.
Renzi has been criticized by other leftist politicians because he is too young to serve as Prime Minister. But Renzi’s rationale for ostracizing Letta out of business was simple as well as courageous: the Democratic Party leader argued that Letta has failed to meet Italy’s economic and political needs.
“After having taken into account the political situation and the most recent developments…”, read the PD’s document, “…the Democratic Party’s leadership observes the necessity and the urgency to open a new [political] phase though [the introduction of] an executive that will have the political strength it takes to face this country problems.”
Some called this a political blitzkrieg. Or, like Berlusconi put it: “an opaque” seizure of power. But Renzi has been working at this move for months: the opportunity was too good to be left. However, there is an idiosyncrasy between Renzi’s desires and Italy’s needs. The quirk reflects the political distance between Brussels and Rome. Italians are better off without Angela Merkel’s hidden guidance, but Europe is better off without Renzi’s anti-European drive.
Renzi is an admirer of Obama. Some call him “demolition man.” He will be the third consecutive “unpopular” Prime Minister of our country, after Mario Monti and Enrico Letta. Matteo Renzi will make an “unpopular” Premier not just because he is the leader of a problematic Leftist party but also because he wasn’t elected by the Italians. Yes, he won the elections to become PD’s number one man, but – like Cesare Marinetti writes on La Stampa — “the PD is not Italy and neither is the party that won the elections”.
So, is this Renzi really going to make a bad Prime Minister? Well, he will make a better Premier than Letta, at least according to Giuliano Ferrara. Ferrara is all about lesser evils; he claimed that, while Letta was only a “lottery winner” (in the sense that he was lucky to become Prime Minister), Renzi is at least “the winner of a political struggle.” Now, Ferrara is a long-time Berlusconi supporter. Berlusconi and Renzi disagree on almost everything, but the Italian electoral law, which must be changed according to both of them. Berlusconi has nothing to lose and everything to gain if Renzi becomes Prime Minister. And if Berlusconi makes a come-back into Italian politics, Renzi has nothing to lose either: he knows that Il Cavaliere is an almost innocuous political subject, and it will make a much more malleable opponent than Beppe Grillo, anyway. Speaking about Grillo: the leader of the Five Stars Movement doesn’t like Renzi, not in the slightest: he defined Renzi as an “unscrupulous careerist” and as a “friend of Berlusconi.” And that’s possibly the best sponsorship Renzi could get: if Grillo dislikes you, than there’s a chance that you aren’t so bad, after all.
Grillo’s subversive movement is certainly the worst thing that has happened in Italy, from a political point of view, during the course of the last five years.
Italy cannot waste any more precious time with Grillo’s movement. And that is perhaps the sole valid reason for supporting a new leftist Prime minister right now, since Renzi is opposed to Grillo, of course. Renzi is all Italians can dream about nowadays. Perhaps Americans should try and orchestrate another Marshall Plan, but this one should do a better job at contrasting Italy’s problematic inclination towards anti-social and anti-economic ideologies such as communism, socialism and the like.
Italians aren’t stupid; they are just victims of socialist public schools and universities. If they could only get rid of proto-Marxist ideas, maybe they could finally find their way out of this catch-22. But in order to do that they need American ideological support.
PD’s exponents are concerned for the fate of Italian politics, especially since European elections are only two months away. And if you think European elections won’t influence U.S. politics at least to some extent, think twice: for every political action there is an economic reaction. And spare a thought for the fate of Italian politics as well.
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