euro|topics - Italians are thrust back into political incertitude

Main focus of Friday, January 25, 2008

Italians are thrust back into political incertitude

Romano Prodi, head of the Italian government, lost a vote of confidence held in the Senate on January 24th (161 votes against him and 156 in his favour) and handed in his resignation. President Giorgio Napolitano now has to decide whether to call a snap election or whether to form a transitional government for a few months.

El Mundo - Spain

"Those who had warned Prodi that a vote of confidence in the Senate had every element of a political suicide were right", explains the daily. "The president Giorgio Napolitano had suggested to Prodi that he should throw in the towel without submitting himself to a second vote of confidence (The deputies voted their confidence on January 24th). Prodi did not listen to this advice ... . His calculations were wrong. ... With or without Prodi, Italy is in need of radical reforms. The fundamental problems are economic anaemia, a rather uncompetitive energy sector, public services that are hostage to trade unions and the weakest birth rate in Europe. ... If Italians finally go back to the ballot box, Italy will have to confront an economic crisis with a provisional government and a demoralised society that barely trusts political leaders at all anymore." (25/01/2008)

La Repubblica - Italy

Ezio Mauro, the daily's editor in chief, comments on the resignation of Romano Prodi. "This is a strange and unfair fate for a man who twice defeated [Silvio] Berlusconi and who twice had to leave power because of the dissolution of his majority. This is not just the end of a government and a period in power; it is a whole political culture, the centre-left, which is coming to an end. ... Prodi died on the right, but he suffered two years on the left. His dream of uniting Italy's two left-wings -reformists and radicals- of combining justice, solidarity and innovation did work at times, but was never a real political culture, recognised and recognisable. ... Prodi had to deal with interior conflicts -threats, blackmail, and vetoes -instead of governing. We heard a thousand voices, but never that of the centre-left." (25/01/2008)

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland

Tomasz Bielecki finds the Catholic Church is partly to blame for the end of Prodi's government: "One of the more important arguments in the fight against Prodi's administration was the defence of the Church and 'Christian civilization.' Some Bishops and right-wing politicians blame Prodi for the scandal over Pope Benedict XVI's cancelled plan to visit Sapienza University of Rome. They charge Prodi with tolerating 'deviant laicism.'... The Bishops suggest that the Interior Ministry warned the Vatican against causing a major uproar. The government defended itself, saying it had advised Benedict not to visit the university. The Vatican accused the government of lying and withdrew its confidence. In addition, Catholic media have charged Prodi with promoting a left-wing 'moral revolution' – with the aim of accepting legal partnerships for homosexuals, or legalizing assisted suicide." (25/01/2008)

Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland

Jürg Bischoff thinks Prodi is not to blame for the crisis in Italy: "Neither the clever media czar Berlusconi nor the serious professor Prodi has proven willing or able to overcome the inertia of the political caste, so as to give the Second Republic a functioning form. Thus the parliament, government, administration and justice have sunk deeper each day into the same old party squabbles and the lethargy of the status quo. People have lost all respect for state institutions; frustration about politics has led to utter disdain for politicians. Pessimists already are warning that Italian bitterness toward their politicians also undermines their faith in democracy, and could reawaken the longing for a strong man, a 'Duce,' as in the political turmoil of the 1920s." (25/01/2008)

» To the complete press review of Friday, January 25, 2008

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