Political instability/stability the Italian way

Italy just can’t stop surprising the rest of the international community with its political instability. Starting in 1946, it has sustained 61 governments, remaining Europe’s fourth most economically stable country.

As though abiding by this instability trend, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta resigned last week, after ten months in office. His predecessor was Mario Monti who had become prime minister after Berlusconi’s forced retirement in November 2011. The Italian press marvels at the speed at which one head of government is replaced with the next one. Indeed, President Giorgio Napolitano on Monday nominated the secretary of the Center-Left Democratic Party (PD), Matteo Renzi, as the youngest prime minister ever in Italy after former prime minister Enrico Letta was forced to resign on Friday. Napolitano summoned Renzi, the then 39-year-old mayor of Florence, and after less than an hour in audience with him, said he wanted Renzi to form a new coalition government that could pull the country out of a recession.

Back in October, Enrico Letta was Italy’s Man of the Year after defeating ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, but then Italian politics showed lots of changes, particularly within the Democratic Party. Letta was now faced with a strong rival, Matteo Renzi, nicknamed the Rottamatori or Demolition Man for his desire to shake up the political establishment. After heading the DP, he became noticeably popular with the electorate, due to his public statements denouncing the “old policy” and backstage deals. He might become prime minister without elections, as was the case with Letta.

Renzi has lashed out at Letta for his indecisive approach toward reforms that are badly needed in Italy. Renzi promised a dramatic change in that country’s political course, if and when he becomes head of government. He said that Italy could pull itself out of that swamp by joint effort – not by allowing power to change hands and follow the good old course, but by changing objectives, tempo, and rhythm.

Luigi Contu, director of the Italian news agency ANSA: “Letta’s government was an abnormal one, born of an electoral outcome in which voters didn’t make a clear choice, especially during a time when the main party, the DP, no longer had a leader… With the emergence of a true leader, such as Renzi, who would be chosen by voters (throughout Italy), the government could, paradoxically, be stronger.”

No one in Italy doubts that the president will let Prime Minister Renzi form a new government. This will mark the peak of Renzi’s spectacular career, considering that he has never been a member of parliament or government. He kept promising fellow Italians quick and amazingly effective changes. The trouble was the DP didn’t have enough seats in parliament to make Renzi head of government. They needed allies. Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi declared that he would remain in opposition.

Renzi wanted to build a team, so he proposed cabinet posts to several people he knew and trusted, among them his friend Alessandro Baricco, author of the novel Silk. He told Alessandro he wanted him as minister of culture, but the man said no. Andrea Guerra, head of Luxottica, the world’s largest eyewear company, refused the key economic portfolio. The problem was that Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development was the main link in a chain that had secured Italy’s third place in the eurozona, struggling to maintain 0.1 percent GDP growth in the last quarter of 2013. Corriere della Sera wrote that Renzi wanted to have a pro who was trusted by, and had contact with, Brussels and the Central European Bank. Il Fatto wrote that Renzi was having problems, more than he could cope with.

Renzi could have another ally, namely Angelino Alfano, once Berlusconi’s henchman, currently the leader of his own party known as Nuovo Centrodestra (New Center-Right), but the man said he wasn’t prepared to accept Renzi just there and then. He needed time to figure out the situation. On Saturday, however, Alfano demanded at least three cabinet posts, saying Renzi would then rely on the party for crucial support in the Senate.

“A happy ending is not guaranteed…We can’t finish in 48 hours,” Alfano said after meeting with Napolitano, adding that he would refuse to ally with Renzi if the government proved “too leftist” and would then push for early elections. “We support the creation of the new government. If we say no to this government, it will not be born,” Alfano said Sunday.

Corriere della Sera regards Matteo Renzi’s outline of the new government as too vague. La Stampa says the DP leader has discovered for himself that construction is much harder than demolition. The man knows all about publicity, he isn’t camera-shy and he can talk to media people as though he were one of them. As it was, the media tagged him as Berlusconi’s brainchild.

Renzi embarked on what would be his spectacular political career as a member of a small family business. Before long he realized the key mass media advantages. That was how he adopted the Rottamatori stance and now appears to be prepared to clean out his party’s Augean stables. As a matter of fact, he has another nickname, Tuscan Tony Blair, considering that the British prime minister won the 1997 elections and proceeded to rejuvenate his good old Labor Party and its leadership.