In March 2010, Silvio Berlusconi’s government passed a law designed to protect the self-styled “most persecuted man in all history in the entire world” from prosecution in Italy’s courts. On January 13, the country’s Constitutional Court partially struck down the law. It was right to do so. However, it is a sad measure of the dysfunctional nature of Italian politics that this decision may yet work to the advantage of Mr Berlusconi – and the detriment of his country.
Mr Berlusconi’s law of “legitimate impediment” exempted cabinet ministers from appearing in court on the basis that they are too busy. That proposition is an affront to the principle of equality before the law. No one, not even a billionaire media mogul who doubles as prime minister, is above the law. The court has yet to publish the details of its ruling, but should be applauded for upholding this principle.
However, the impact of the ruling on Mr Berlusconi is likely to be slight. On the legal front, it will change little. Mr Berlusconi has never been definitively convicted of any of the numerous charges that have been levelled at him since his first prime ministerial term in 1994. Even if the three outstanding corruption trials against him are reopened, the most likely outcome is that they will be curtailed. The lumbering Italian judicial system is rarely swift enough to bring complex cases to their conclusion before the statute of limitations kicks in.
On the political front, the ruling may even – perversely – play into Mr Berlusconi’s hands.He has spent much of his time in office bleating that he is the victim of a conspiracy by leftwing judges to unseat him.In conjunction with an investigation opened on January 14 into claims that Mr Berlusconi abused his office by trying to have a 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer released from prison, the Constitutional Court’s ruling will enable him to sustain this narrative until the next election, which will probably occur this spring.That is a huge shame for Italy. Before the next election, the country deserves an honest debate about the litany of problems it faces.The world’s seventh-largest economy needs reform: one in four youths is unemployed; growth is less than anaemic; foreign investment is falling; national debt has hit €1,800bn.The cancer of organised crime needs excising. The list goes on.Yet instead of solutions to these problems, the country is likely to be treated to another instalment of Berlusconi versus the judiciary. Italy deserves better.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6bf78fd4-21a3-11e0-9e3b-00144feab49a.html#axzz1BJE8yOMS
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento