I do not see the Democratic Party holding on to its two minor parties, Di Pietro's Italy of Values and the Radicals, unless it makes for a strong opposition. The two minor parties are strong on single issues such as justice and women's rights. It is all too easy for Berlusconi to play on those issues to undermine the Democratic Party. Any concession or collaboration with Berlusconi will only displace the barycentre of the political spectrum to the right, something that Veltroni has already done by excluding the historical Left from a prospective coalition. Veltroni's gamble was to build a conservative center-left party that would erode centrist votes from the right. In that he has failed.
Berlusconi on his part has co-opted the conservative vote by creating a personality cult. Any contradictions within his coalition have been metabolized by his person. Berlusconi lays bare the underlying modus operandi of Italian conservatism. His constituency has little faith in its personal power to effect change in the world and prefers to delegate to providence, to the strong leader, thus shirking personal responsibility.
Some pundits have ventured that, since Berlusconi has done everything in his life, he may now act as a magnanimous statesman and create a modern, dynamic, competitive Italy. To borrow a favoured word from Berlusconi's vocabulary, he is "anthropologically" incapable of doing anything that does not satisfy his immediate needs. And those are fairly simple to note: the castration and subjugation of the judiciary branch; the expansion of his control over all media. These will go against European directives and court sentences. He could care less, after all it's the state that picks up the bill, not him.
His jingoist handling of the Alitalia case will bankrupt the company, putting some 20,000 people out of work.
He will have to pay back three important players that contributed to his win: the Mafia, the Vatican and the Lega Nord. But in the final analysis it's all the same thing, la Pornocrazia.
Any concession or collaboration with Berlusconi will only displace the barycentre of the political spectrum to the right, something that Veltroni has already done by excluding the historical Left from a prospective coalition. Veltroni's gamble was to build a conservative center-left party that would erode centrist votes from the right. In that he has failed.
Need we continue to ask? Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
What the parties need to internalise now is that they have eroded their base of support.
Is there any way that the EU can "come to the rescue" of Italy, should his abuses and violations become excessive? (I am only half-serious -- but only half-joking, too.) A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
Last week Italy was condemned for not having made laws concerning waste in accordance with the EU directives. This does not concern the Campania for which legal action is pending before European Courts.
In the case of the Diaz School torture during the Genova G8 summit in 2001, the victims have decided to take the case before European courts. Although a first sentence is expected soon in the most barbarous violation of human rights within the European Union in recent time, the victims do not expect proper redress in Italy.
In his previous tenure, Berlusconi systematically attacked and blocked European initiatives and institutes. In the case of EuroJust he managed to hamper and delay progress in the integration of European judiciary and investigative systems.
As for Berlusconi, lucky bastard: I guess punishing the actual perpetrator of the wrongdoings rather than penalize the state of which s/he is head would be infringing on the sovereignty of that state, correct?
What incentive(s) can the EU otherwise give the Italian people to keep him out of office? 400,000 euros of their collective tax money does not really seem like much of an incentive. A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
That's a good line! Where is it from? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
The reporter on Deutsche Well TV said that "Italy is ripe for reforms, now Berlusconi has the chance to deliver them, unlike before"... I had to switch channels immediately. (And this is a channel that in the prior news segment listed all the court cases against B and the personalised law-making to get himself free.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
His self-serving "reform" of the judiciary branch went into effect during the Prodi government. Prodi and his Minister of Justice, Clemente Mastella, did nothing to block the "reform." Now that Berlusconi is back, the reform will be fully implemented. This includes periodical examination of all judges and prosecutors, including their mental equilibrium, as if they had to re-graduate every three years. The Judiciary Branch in Italy as of last night can be considered totally deprived of any power of checks and balances. It will no longer be a separate power. It will only serve for throwing petty criminals and drug addicts in overflowing jails.
The reform of telecommunications, the so-called Gasparri Law, has been struck down by the EU as violating European law. Despite a daily fine for not changing it, that reform will continue to allow and reinforce Berlusconi's monopoly of the media.
Berlusconi's past reform of education was in line with that of the Kansas State Board of Education. Darwin was banned from elementary school, blithely branded as dangerous for young minds. Berlusconi then backed down over public outcry over Darwin. But tomorrow? His so-called reform also included qualifying teachers in Catholic schools as equivalent to public school teachers, an outrage to secular society. They simply don't have the qualifications. The fact that unqualified Catholic teachers can pass over to the public school system to "teach" is an assault on the state and education. The mafia boss and senator, Marcello Dell'Utri, asserted the other day a typical Berlusconi meme: to rewrite history books for the schools. Nolte and Irving will do the job. The Nazi sympathizer, now Berlusconi Senator, Giuseppe Ciarrapico (and perpetually on the lamb for fraudulent bankruptcy), is known for translating and publishing Nazi memoirs and ideological writings.
Today the FT has put up an article asserting that Berlusconi has veered right by cutting out the moderate Catholics. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In Italian politics, moderate Catholics are a contingency, a group put there as mock representation. The Vatican is extreme right wing. It could care less about the Italian State or the unity of Italy, so long as it can rip off untold billions with their malarkey. Berlusconi is their best ally, just as Mussolini was. Moderate Catholics are inconsequental.
I'm afraid the Deutsche Well TV and the FT are superficial.
The probable Minister of Economy, Giulio Tremonti, is no more than Berlusconi's private accountant, an ante-diluvium protectionist. He will, as always, do everything to make Berlusconi richer. Tremonti gave us the de-criminalization of many financial crimes such as falsifying the balance. With precedents like this, can investors be expected to work in Italy?
