Berlusconi: his third show…

Abstract

World sometimes is really strange! And Italy it's a typical country of the world, full of contradictions, in many fields. You can think easily to some of them: Italy is one of the countries with a larger number of Unesco heritage sites but Italian people always prefers to go abroad to spend their holidays instead then discover their country. Another one? The national consciousness it's absolutely no part of Italian way of life, at least if you make a comparison with other countries, like USA, Switzerland, Germany, in which the flag honours, the spirit to be part of a global one country (with a precise identity) is an integrant part of each individual mind. In Italy people recognize them like Italian only when the national football team plays the World Championship!

Would you like to have another example of Italian citizens contradictions? Very easy… Please, ask to an Italian guy "Do you vote for Berlusconi?" The common answer is "Absolutely not". And you can believe to students or young people that historically are more on left side in politics. You can believe to working people, to blue collars that generally forecast their rights more protected by a left government. You can believe to old people that remember with no happiness Fascism period.
But all, really all people, white collar, managers, shopkeeper, trader, housewives, will tell you "I do not vote for Berlusca" [Berlusca is the nickname of Silvio Berlusconi, done simply imitating the dialect of Milan, region in which the new Italian Prime Minister is born].

And yet? Berlusconi, the magnate of media, has won for the third times in 14 years the national elections! And this time has been a real triumph like percentage, moreover considering that the coalition of Silvio this time had lost the party of Casini, the real center, so Silvio has won only with his party and with Lega Nord (Northern League, a former sort of separatism movement transformed in federalism movement). Unbelievable… or not?

We can analyze the vote and thinking about:

1) Italy from 2001 to 2006 has had the second Berlusconi government and began a period of big economic crisis, especially due to Euro money introduction. On top on this it's however necessary a consideration: many European countries have introduced Euro, but not all suffered that internal prices increasing, especially because many of them put some ad hoc measures, not done in Italy. 
2) Nevertheless the Italian people dissatisfaction, in 2006 Romano Prodi won the elections (with his center-left coalition) for really few few votes. And, truth to tell, no one has never discovered if Prodi really won. In fact there has been many claims about votes calculation never definitively resolved.
3) The period 2006-2008 has been a real disaster for Italian economy and all social classes have been very frustrated, also for some government decisions absolutely not aligned with a center-left coalition (taxes increasing for all social classes…), only in part due to a real necessity to improve the Italian government economy and sometimes taken only for non sense.
4) After Prodi government debacle, Prodi declared to exit from the political scene and, behind him, the left and center-left begun some insider fighting that caused the birth of a great center-left party (that of Veltroni) and three minor left party. Veltroni got the direct support only of Di Pietro movement (Di Pietro was the magistrate that killed the first Italian republic in '94 discovering a big business and politics corruption).
5) On the center-right and right side, Berlusconi and Fini (right) joined in a new movement and Lega Nord associated with them. The extreme right instead practically disappeared and Casini decided to remain alone.

And so? It was easy to think that Italian people, burned by the last 2 years government, would have given confidence to center-right coalition, captained by Berlusconi.
But in which way to not think to scandals of some Berlusconi guys in the past, of some promises never maintained, to some clowning impression in international meetings? The point is that there wasn't neither isn't a real alternative to Berlusconi or Verltroni!

So we (Italian citizen) can only hope that Berlusconi could apply his perspicacity and intuition (that provide him to be a real best in class in business) in choosing the right men (Ministers) to guarantee a solid future to Italy. The secret is no Berlusconi, but his men and the freedom that they will have to act for the wellness of the country.

The possibilities to improve the actual state of the economy, decrease percentage of unemployment, let people more satisfied are big, but the problems are also many! First of all infrastructures (a disaster now: road, high speed train, link to Sicily…), the Alitalia (the national airline, to be sold urgently), the criminality and the illegal immigration, the public health, the school system, the taxes too high… A solution?

Try to have like model the Spain (that in 15 years has really had tangible progress) associated with the Italian imagination, like i.e. to promote a real tax federal system (like promised by Lega Nord to people) and to help South of Italy not with money but with projects that permit a real development, but also (if no one reach the goal) to delete any incentive to southern Italy and especially to government people.

That's to say to consider politic goals like common management tasks, and politician salary like managers salary, with a relevant percentage depending from reaching or not business objectives… A dream? May be… but Berlusconi is considered a manager and like a magician in many fields…

 
Corresponsal en Torino
Italia