ROME LETTER:A fierce opponent of the Italian PM may have brought the coalition's crisis to a head, writes PADDY AGNEW
ITALY’S CENTRE-RIGHT prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi needs to understand that “governing” is not the same as “commanding”, voiced a critic in recent days.
He needs to stop confusing leadership with the ownership of his many companies, it was said.
There is no serious confrontation of ideas within 73-year-old Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PDL), a party run along “illiberal, authoritarian” lines reminiscent of the “worst type of Stalinism”. Political allies are treated as mere subjects who have no right to express a “different opinion”, said the critic.
The prime minister has no understanding of what a liberal democracy actually means. Rather, he has a tendency to use his vast media power to enact “Islamic-style stonings” against his political enemies.
Furthermore, the critic continued, Berlusconi should stop trying to promote legislation intended to resolve his own particular “judicial” problems, legislation which not only serves no purpose for the average Italian but which, on the contrary, is likely to prompt the abrogation of thousands of “ordinary” court cases. The right to a fair trial is all very well, but that right does not mean permanent “impunity”.
As for the government’s record, when it finally concentrates on issues other than the prime minister’s impending judicial problems, it leaves much to be desired, the critic continued.
Public service cuts in a time of global recession are inevitable, but do they have to be aimed at schoolteachers and police forces? Trying to police the borders against clandestine immigration is obviously a necessity, but what about creating policies that would help the “integration of the honest foreigner”? On the foreign policy front, things are not much better, the critic continued.
Last week’s visit to Italy by Libyan leader Col Muammar Gadafy, during which the colonel held “convert to Islam” rallies, was an “undignified spectacle”. Realpolitik is one thing, but you simply “cannot genuflect to someone like that”.
The current electoral law, introduced by Berlusconi, is simply “shameful” since it denies Italians the right to vote for their own parliamentarian. As for much trumpeted justice reforms, no one denies that the judicial system badly needs reforming, but not at the expense of the autonomy and independence of the magistrature, as is the intent of proposed Berlusconi government measures.
So, who is this outspoken, if not exactly original, critic? Yet another figure from the 40 shades of centre-left and ultra-left opinion in today’s Italy? Or is it simply a senior figure in the main opposition body, the Democratic Party (PD)?
No, the dissenter is the current lower house speaker, Gianfranco Fini – ex-Fascist, long-time political “ally” of Berlusconi and co-founder along with him of that same PDL party which he now brands as “Stalinist”.
In the course of a forceful, articulate and keenly anticipated speech in Mirabello, Emilia Romagna, last Sunday night, Fini emphatically rang the “government crisis” alarm bell.
In reality, this crisis has been brewing for months now, becoming spectacularly public when Berlusconi and Fini engaged in a shouting match at the party’s national council last April. The break between the two men and their political factions became formal at the end of July when the PDL expelled Fini, accusing him of adopting “an attitude of permanent opposition to us, in harmony with the left”.
So what’s new?
What is new is that while at first it seemed the two factions would continue to live as separati in casa (a separated couple, but still living under the same roof), it now looks more likely that the tensions between the two groups will at least bring down the curtain ahead of time on the current Berlusconi government – if not actually prompt an early general election.
A furious battle is under way, with the Berlusconi camp calling for Fini to resign his position of speaker since, they claim, he is no longer super partes. Rather, he is “actively hostile” to the government and the ruling majority. For the time being, Fini has no intention of resigning.
Right now, the crystal ball is looking very fuzzy. Not only is it not clear whether we are headed for a “technical” government, for early elections or indeed for more of Berlusconi – but also one gets the very clear impression that of all the major players, only one party, namely the Northern League, is actually enthusiastic about going back to the ballot box. Another long, hot autumn is just beginning.
Also, last but not least, why did Fini do it? Perhaps, with his eye on his possible role as the leader of the post-Berlusconi centre-right, he had feared that he was going to be absorbed, right out of sight, by the Berlusconi-PDL machine.
Perhaps, too, it was time to stand up and point out that his emperor indeed has no clothes.