Main focus of Wednesday, April 12, 2006

The lessons of the Italian election

Romano Prodi's centre-left coalition eked out the narrowest of victories against Silvio Berlusconi's camp in legislative elections, claiming a razor-thin majority in the Senate of 158 seats to 156. Several European newspapers point to a similarity between this electoral scenario and the political situation in other European countries. 

Corriere della Sera - Italy

Political analyst Ernesto Galli della Loggia says Italy must regain its unity. "The request by the 'Casa de la Liberta' [centre-right coalition] to verify 40,000 voting ballots, and its offer to the 'Ulivio' [centre-left coalition] to form a coalition government, confirm the degree of political fever gripping the country. And this fever reveals an ailment that goes by two names: division and lack of legitimacy. ... A sense of responsibility becomes an absolute obligation for everyone involved. For the centre-right, which must manage to keep its challenge within the strict limits of the constitution. But especially for the centre-left. Romano Prodi was forever repeating during the campaign that he wants to reunite Italy; the time has come. If he really buckles down, even those Italians who denied him their vote will be unable to wish him anything but success."  (12/04/2006)

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Le Temps - Switzerland

Editorial writer Serge Enderlin analyses the slim margin separating the coalitions of Romano Prodi and Silvio Berlusconi. "A 25,000-vote spread - really a tied match on the bulletin board of democratic choice. A repeat, more importantly, of a marked trend. The teams, in the West of free elections, no longer manage to sort things out. ... Elections are no longer won thanks to a mobilising project, but due to weariness inspired by the outgoing team. It is democracy-by-zapping, choice without choice, a refusal to change even while acknowledging its necessity. Petrified by the implications of reforming the social pact - seen as indispensable but rejected no sooner than reforms are articulated by the elected leaders - the voting public no longer knows how to use its ballot papers to imagine the future." (12/04/2006)

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Berlingske - Denmark

According to the newspaper, in order to carry out the comprehensive reforms that are so urgently needed, Romano Prodi's victory would have to have been much more decisive. "Prodi was not a strong European Commission president, and his chances of becoming a strong leader for Italy are not great... The communists, who ousted Prodi the last time round, will make sure he pays a high price to keep them from doing it again. Italy's political climate is contaminated and the problems the country is confronting now are even greater than during Prodi's last term in office. A weak leader will be given control over one of the weak links in the EU chain. This is bad for Italy, and it's bad for Europe, whose future depends on the recuperation of the economies of its larger nations.” (12/04/2006)

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Le Soir - Belgium

In an interview with Dominique Berns, the French political analyst Guy Hermet stresses that Silvio Berlusconi's defeat should not be interpreted as the failure of populism. "With the abandonment of the old party system, [which pitted Christian democracy against the Communist party], populism nearly morphed into a political regime. ... If, this time around, Berlusconi and his allies have lost, we need to keep in mind that they were the victors twice in the past. They will be back. Italy, in a certain sense, is setting the tone because Berlusconi has introduced a completely new brand of populism. ... Berlusconi has made politics fun. Isn't this what the voters seemed to want? For politics to be less 'boring'? But what is even more important is that populism, in Italy, and in the rest of Europe, is forcing professional politicians to adapt." (12/04/2006)

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Diena - Latvia

"Italy is not the only country in Europe to be in a state of political paralysis; France is in a similar situation. There are many parallels between these two countries,” Peteris Strautins observes. "In France it was the demonstrators who prevented reform. In Italy it's the weakness of  democratic institutions. However, the problems in France are less 'urgent' and less dangerous for the European economy as a whole than the crisis in Italy. The deep roots of the conflict in France lie in the inability of the country's less skilled citizens to get a job. In Italy, on the other hand, the economy as a whole is going through a period of sinking competitiveness. Therefore, while France has an internal problem, Italy's problem has a growing external impact.” (12/04/2006)

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The Guardian - United Kingdom

Italy's knife-edge election is symptomatic of a zeitgeist marked by political stalemate, writes columnist Jonathan Freedland. "In Germany, France and Italy the political class (spurred on by business) has become convinced that a specific remedy is urgently required to treat their ailing economies. ... The trouble is, citizens of the European troika refuse to submit to the treatment. Either they fail to endorse it at the polls, as they did in Germany by converting Angela Merkel's initial lead into the narrowest of victories over Gerhard Schröder. Or they take to the streets, as they just have in France, forcing Dominique de Villepin to drop his relatively modest plan to make France's under-26s more sackable and therefore more attractive to employers. ... But, confusingly, these voters do not rally to a clear left alternative either - partly because of the failure of progressives around the world to articulate one." (12/04/2006)

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