FILIPPO DI GIACOMO 01/09/2009
Si en Berlusconilandia quedara aún algún filósofo, permanecería encerrado sin duda en su biblioteca meditando acerca de la diosa Némesis. Y eso, porque, sin dejar de hablar en la jerga filosófica de quienes se refugian entre los antiguos para salvar su propia inteligencia del presente, notaría una extraña analogía. De Foggia, noble ciudad de la región de Puglia, proviene Vladimiro Guadagno, de nombre artístico Vladimir Luxuria, quien llegó al Parlamento nacional en las elecciones del 2006 de la mano del partido Refundación Comunista, y goza de gran fama mediática, entre otras cosas, por sus apariciones en las televisiones berlusconianas y sus relatos sobre su propia vida, en la que llegó a dedicarse a la prostitución. En sus dos años como diputada, Luxuria logró que la izquierda hablara de todo salvo del parricidio político de su líder, Fausto Bertinotti, que en ese momento estaban perpetrando sus hijos de movimiento.
De la ciudad de Bari, noble capital de la región de Puglia, proviene Patrizia D'Addario, una muchacha que jamás llegó a brillar bajo la luz de los focos y cedida a la política -en un pequeño partido proberlusconiano- para las elecciones municipales de su ciudad. También Patrizia ha alcanzado por fin la fama. Más, a diferencia de tantos y tantas, de derechas e izquierdas, no le ha servido de nada. Ni siquiera para recoger las migajas que caían de las mesas de sus provisionales amos. Pero, prostituta de 42 años, ha conseguido hacer olvidar que Berlusconilandia se ha fundado sobre dos menores napolitanas, viajes a Cerdeña y un polvo de color blanco. Por otra parte, dice el filósofo escondido en los antiguos, Lupa -loba- era el nombre que las colegas de Patrizia tenían en tiempos de Rómulo y Remo.
Ahora bien, a menos que no se quiera sostener que los transexuales de izquierda poseen méritos políticos de los que las hermosas y curvilíneas mediterráneas de derechas no pueden presumir, ¿por qué razón lo que se arroja en la tierra de Bari fructifica de forma distinta a lo que germina en la tierra de Foggia, estando ambas en la misma región?
Corría el año 2001, estábamos en enero, y en Italia un editorial de la Sir, la agencia de prensa de la conferencia episcopal, se preguntaba ya por entonces: "¿Y si el común de la gente se estuviera cansando de registros cada vez más nivelados en zonas bajas? La transición italiana se muestra cada vez más enmarañada precisamente porque los parámetros cualitativos se han ido reduciendo cada vez más. Las intervenciones de Berlusconi plantean graves interrogantes acerca del destino de nuestra democracia, en ausencia de actores políticos, institucionales y sociales fuertes, enraizados y conscientes". Se hablaba, como de costumbre, de un Berlusconi primer ministro, que había desaparecido de la escena política durante 30 días por haber ingresado en una clínica de Suiza para un estiramiento facial. Y sin embargo, algunos meses después, en abril, la misma fuente lo legitimaba como auténtico hijo de la única madre admisible, la liberal-católica, debido a su política moderada y bien orientada. Como dicen incluso sus admiradores, se trata del único milagro atribuible al cardenal Camillo Ruini.
En Amsterdam en 1999 y, sobre todo, en Niza en diciembre de 2000, las Iglesias de Europa no salían de su asombro. La hostilidad anticristiana y anticatólica parecía manifestarse en los dos momentos constitutivos de la futura Constitución Europea con una virulencia insospechada y, en distintos sentidos, inmotivada también. Y ver a la religión diluida en la genérica definición de identidad "filosófica" europea hacía que ante los ojos de las jerarquías eclesiásticas bailara más de un fantasma.
En aquellos meses, en la estela de esos temores, para el electorado católico (que, en buena parte, no lo había votado), Berlusconi parecía aún manejable gracias a la extraordinaria maquinaria, entre lo electoral y el negocio, que los católicos de Comunión y Liberación, aliados de Ruini en la difamación de Carlo María Martini, habían puesto en marcha para las elecciones. En efecto, es al modelo milanés al que debe atribuirse, probablemente, el marco general de las relaciones entre Berlusconi y la Iglesia italiana. Grandes chácharas sobre familia y matrimonio, y ninguna medida fiscal seria en favor de los desgraciados que tienen la desventurada idea de casarse y de querer dos o tres hijos, negocios con ese submundo clerical capaz de dar la comunión incluso a un asno con tal de que viva en los establos de un amo potente...
Ante estos titánicos resultados, hasta los obispos se vieron obligados a poner buena cara ante la llamada ley Biagi sobre el trabajo precario (la esclavización de dos generaciones de italianos por parte de una generación de ultraprotegidos), la inicua reforma de las pensiones, los cortes a la sanidad, el déficit del sector de las infraestructuras, los incumplimientos en la defensa del territorio, las escasas inversiones es favor de la formación, el reajuste en sentido unilateral del sistema informativo...
Pasan los años, pero la receta no cambia: comunión y prostitución a los potentes de turno, como Tony Blair, Jeb Bush y Mara Carfagna, las estrellas del congreso de CyL en Rímini (23-29 agosto). Y mientras, Berlusconilandia vuelve a ser la Italia de siempre, "Némesis", diría el último filósofo. Si hubiera alguno.
Filippo di Giacomo es canonista y editorialista-analista del diario La Stampa. Traducción de Carlos Gumpert
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/opinion/Comunion/prostitucion/elpepiopi/20090901elpepiopi_5/Tes
mercoledì 2 settembre 2009
Umberto Eco leads writers’ revolt against Silvio Berlusconi’s attempt to gag press
Richard Owen in Rome
Italy’s artistic and intellectual elite was in open revolt yesterday against Silvio Berlusconi’s moves to sue at least three newspapers at home and abroad. More than 120,000 people have signed an online petition defending press freedom.
Umberto Eco, perhaps the country’s leading writer, Dario Fo, the playwright, and Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorrah, the bestseller about the Naples Mafia, were among those signing the petition, started by La Repubblica. The paper is being sued for questioning the Prime Minister’s behaviour and private life.
Mr Eco said: “When someone has to intervene to defend freedom of the press it means that the society, and with it a great part of the press itself, is already sick.” He added that in robust democracies there was no need to defend press freedom “because it enters nobody’s mind to limit it”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6816390.ece
Italy’s artistic and intellectual elite was in open revolt yesterday against Silvio Berlusconi’s moves to sue at least three newspapers at home and abroad. More than 120,000 people have signed an online petition defending press freedom.
Umberto Eco, perhaps the country’s leading writer, Dario Fo, the playwright, and Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorrah, the bestseller about the Naples Mafia, were among those signing the petition, started by La Repubblica. The paper is being sued for questioning the Prime Minister’s behaviour and private life.
Mr Eco said: “When someone has to intervene to defend freedom of the press it means that the society, and with it a great part of the press itself, is already sick.” He added that in robust democracies there was no need to defend press freedom “because it enters nobody’s mind to limit it”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6816390.ece
martedì 1 settembre 2009
The chasm between Berlusconi and reality
One minute he’s a comic, the next a megalomaniac. But this will not help Italy’s ailing economy
James Walston - August 31, 2009
This time Silvio Berlusconi seems to have gone too far; last week he unleashed his pitbull courtiers in an attempt to gag the few remaining opposition media. But the autumn offensive got off to a bad start as the hounds and their master bit off more than they could chew. The Roman Catholic Church and a coalition of Italian and foreign papers are too much even for Mr Berlusconi’s overblown ego.
We are now being given an insight into the Italian Prime Minister’s personal and political weaknesses. The attack began when the parliamentary committee for broadcasting sought to change some of the senior managers of the public broadcaster RAI. It happens that they all work for programmes that are critical of Mr Berlusconi. This came a month after the Prime Minister had laid into a RAI journalist, saying that it was “intolerable that a public service broadcaster, paid for by the taxpayer, should criticise the Government”. This was said through clenched teeth and tensed jaw. The real and visible anger betrayed his lack of control.
The second salvo came when Niccolò Ghedini, Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer and first pitbull, said that they would be suing La Repubblica for libel. The newspaper has listed ten questions for Mr Berlusconi since June. Mr Ghedini argues that asking those questions is libellous and claims a million euros in damages. He has also said that they will sue foreign papers. This brought a shower of criticism from all quarters. Abroad, the reaction was between laughter and indignation; aren’t papers supposed to ask questions?
The other pack is led by Vittorio Feltri, editor of one of the Berlusconi family papers, Il Giornale. His strategy is to go for the man, not the ball. Mr Feltri got into serious hot water when he went for Dino Boffo, the editor of Avvenire, the paper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. For some weeks Avvenire has been criticising Mr Berlusconi’s lifestyle. Mr Feltri claimed that Mr Boffo had plea-bargained his way out of a harassment charge and had had a gay relationship, so should not be preaching about Mr Berlusconi’s sex life.
The effects were not what the Prime Minister wanted; after more than a month of patient diplomacy, his staff had negotiated a dinner with Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, to be held after a ceremony of forgiveness. Mr Berlusconi was to have been pardoned by the Church but the cardinal cancelled the dinner and the rift between the Government and the Church has become an abyss.
The message is simple; Mr Berlusconi needs the Church more than it needs him. His attack on Mr Boffo has shown that his anger trumps his political judgment.
These moves come after months of revelations of sleaze and even possible crimes, as well as a statement by his wife that he is “not well”. In a simple, straightforward world, he would have resigned long ago. But Silvio Berlusconi’s Italy is neither simple nor straightforward. — except in his own view, which is that a majority of Italians voted for him so he has a mandate to do what he wants.
After his first victory in 1994, he proclaimed himself “anointed by the people”, implying that he had the same powers as a divine-right monarch anointed by God. Fifteen years later he is even more convinced of his own destiny. He is Europe’s answer to Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, a populist alternatively bullying and charming his way to power and dismantling all opposition.
But how does he remain popular? The electoral support and approval ratings are genuine, though slipping. Control of the media obviously gives him a huge advantage, but his image and his programme have been popular while the opposition has been disastrously divided, leaderless and without a programme. To have more hair, more girls and fewer wrinkles the older you grow appeals to a lot of men, not just Italian, and many women fall for the smell of glamour and Rolexes.
Since returning to power last year, Mr Berlusconi has given himself immunity from criminal prosecution while in office and countered President Napolitano’s powers to check the constitutionality of Bills. The institutional opposition, like the courts and President, have been trussed like oven-ready capons and most of the media is directly or indirectly controlled by the Prime Minister. If anyone dares to squeak, they are threatened directly.
His foreign policy claims move between the comical and the megalomaniacal. His impatience and sense of omnipotence in business carried over to his political life, which now allows him to ignore reality and to create his own.
Today, though, he acts like a man out of control. Even though he is one of the richest men and among the world’s political leaders, he seems disappointed and frustrated. No amount of wealth can make him young or handsome, force the Vatican to accept him, give him the influence of Mr Brown, Mr Sarkozy or Ms Merkel, or even bestow on him the status of established wealth like the Agnellis. So he overreacts against any criticism.
But the gap between his reality and everyone else’s is widening. Various medications may take their toll and his happy smirk can no longer hide the anger that boils to the surface when he is crossed.
The minors and the prostitutes have cracked the image but, if he falls, it will be because no amount of spin can disguise his economic mismanagement. The unemployment and hardship that Italians are likely to face this autumn, for which he is largely responsible, will be the reality check that counts.
(James Walston is Professor of International Relations at the American University of Rome)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6815531.ece
James Walston - August 31, 2009
This time Silvio Berlusconi seems to have gone too far; last week he unleashed his pitbull courtiers in an attempt to gag the few remaining opposition media. But the autumn offensive got off to a bad start as the hounds and their master bit off more than they could chew. The Roman Catholic Church and a coalition of Italian and foreign papers are too much even for Mr Berlusconi’s overblown ego.
We are now being given an insight into the Italian Prime Minister’s personal and political weaknesses. The attack began when the parliamentary committee for broadcasting sought to change some of the senior managers of the public broadcaster RAI. It happens that they all work for programmes that are critical of Mr Berlusconi. This came a month after the Prime Minister had laid into a RAI journalist, saying that it was “intolerable that a public service broadcaster, paid for by the taxpayer, should criticise the Government”. This was said through clenched teeth and tensed jaw. The real and visible anger betrayed his lack of control.
The second salvo came when Niccolò Ghedini, Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer and first pitbull, said that they would be suing La Repubblica for libel. The newspaper has listed ten questions for Mr Berlusconi since June. Mr Ghedini argues that asking those questions is libellous and claims a million euros in damages. He has also said that they will sue foreign papers. This brought a shower of criticism from all quarters. Abroad, the reaction was between laughter and indignation; aren’t papers supposed to ask questions?
The other pack is led by Vittorio Feltri, editor of one of the Berlusconi family papers, Il Giornale. His strategy is to go for the man, not the ball. Mr Feltri got into serious hot water when he went for Dino Boffo, the editor of Avvenire, the paper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. For some weeks Avvenire has been criticising Mr Berlusconi’s lifestyle. Mr Feltri claimed that Mr Boffo had plea-bargained his way out of a harassment charge and had had a gay relationship, so should not be preaching about Mr Berlusconi’s sex life.
The effects were not what the Prime Minister wanted; after more than a month of patient diplomacy, his staff had negotiated a dinner with Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, to be held after a ceremony of forgiveness. Mr Berlusconi was to have been pardoned by the Church but the cardinal cancelled the dinner and the rift between the Government and the Church has become an abyss.
The message is simple; Mr Berlusconi needs the Church more than it needs him. His attack on Mr Boffo has shown that his anger trumps his political judgment.
These moves come after months of revelations of sleaze and even possible crimes, as well as a statement by his wife that he is “not well”. In a simple, straightforward world, he would have resigned long ago. But Silvio Berlusconi’s Italy is neither simple nor straightforward. — except in his own view, which is that a majority of Italians voted for him so he has a mandate to do what he wants.
After his first victory in 1994, he proclaimed himself “anointed by the people”, implying that he had the same powers as a divine-right monarch anointed by God. Fifteen years later he is even more convinced of his own destiny. He is Europe’s answer to Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, a populist alternatively bullying and charming his way to power and dismantling all opposition.
But how does he remain popular? The electoral support and approval ratings are genuine, though slipping. Control of the media obviously gives him a huge advantage, but his image and his programme have been popular while the opposition has been disastrously divided, leaderless and without a programme. To have more hair, more girls and fewer wrinkles the older you grow appeals to a lot of men, not just Italian, and many women fall for the smell of glamour and Rolexes.
Since returning to power last year, Mr Berlusconi has given himself immunity from criminal prosecution while in office and countered President Napolitano’s powers to check the constitutionality of Bills. The institutional opposition, like the courts and President, have been trussed like oven-ready capons and most of the media is directly or indirectly controlled by the Prime Minister. If anyone dares to squeak, they are threatened directly.
His foreign policy claims move between the comical and the megalomaniacal. His impatience and sense of omnipotence in business carried over to his political life, which now allows him to ignore reality and to create his own.
Today, though, he acts like a man out of control. Even though he is one of the richest men and among the world’s political leaders, he seems disappointed and frustrated. No amount of wealth can make him young or handsome, force the Vatican to accept him, give him the influence of Mr Brown, Mr Sarkozy or Ms Merkel, or even bestow on him the status of established wealth like the Agnellis. So he overreacts against any criticism.
But the gap between his reality and everyone else’s is widening. Various medications may take their toll and his happy smirk can no longer hide the anger that boils to the surface when he is crossed.
The minors and the prostitutes have cracked the image but, if he falls, it will be because no amount of spin can disguise his economic mismanagement. The unemployment and hardship that Italians are likely to face this autumn, for which he is largely responsible, will be the reality check that counts.
(James Walston is Professor of International Relations at the American University of Rome)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6815531.ece
mercoledì 12 agosto 2009
«E' UNA PERSECUZIONE»
L'avvocato del premier Niccolò Ghedini annuncia azioni giudiziarie contro il quotidiano inglese.(Daily Mail)
Perché la pubblicazione delle foto «concretizza un reato» e quindi «se ne assumeranno la responsabilità». Questi scatti «riprendono un momento familiare», e poi ormai si è «alla persecuzione». «Gli inglesi - sottolinea - pensano di dare lezioni di legalità agli italiani, ma poi sono i primi a non metterla in pratica». Ghedini confuta la teoria dei paparazzi, che lunedì sera sono stati fermati e denunciati, secondo i quali per il pontile (essendo in concessione) la legge sulla privacy non si applica come per una abitazione privata. «Questa è una felice idea dei fotografi per difendersi. Ma per montare e smontare il pontile viene pagata una costosissima concessione, quindi è a tutti gli effetti pertinenza dell’abitazione». E poi aggiunge: « Come si può vedere non c’è nulla di male negli scatti. Ma è una questione di principio, quelli sono momenti di vita familiare. Qui ormai siamo alla persecuzione. C’è la teoria del diritto e la pratica dell’abuso».
12 agosto 2009
http://www.corriere.it/politica/09_agosto_12/berlusconi_daily_mail_6f2c7b56-874e-11de-a53e-00144f02aabc.shtml
Berlusconi in a bathrobe: Silvio dresses down as he holidays on yacht in Italy... surrounded by armed guards
By Mail Foreign Service
The sun was shining, it was a beautiful day...
But thankfully Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi didn't take that as his cue to bare the flesh as he headed for a yacht while holidaying in Italy.
Instead the 72-year-old covered up in a white robe in a surprisingly modest turn for the womanising politician.
Time to relax: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (left) dressed in a bathrobe as he headed for a luxury yacht while holidaying in Italy
The lothario is currently on a three-week break where he is due to spend time with his family and celebrate the birthday of his daughter Marina.
Perhaps he decided to dress down after pictures emerged of Peter Mandelson on holiday in Corfu dressed in a series unflattering overly casual outfits, including linen drawstring trousers.
As Mr Berlusconi made his way on to the yacht, armed guards were pictured surrounding him.
Mr Berlusconi said earlier this week he had nothing to apologise for over the sex scandals that have surrounded him
He was pictured earlier in the day arriving at the airport in Italy
The sun was shining, it was a beautiful day...
But thankfully Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi didn't take that as his cue to bare the flesh as he headed for a yacht while holidaying in Italy.
Instead the 72-year-old covered up in a white robe in a surprisingly modest turn for the womanising politician.
Time to relax: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (left) dressed in a bathrobe as he headed for a luxury yacht while holidaying in Italy
The lothario is currently on a three-week break where he is due to spend time with his family and celebrate the birthday of his daughter Marina.
Perhaps he decided to dress down after pictures emerged of Peter Mandelson on holiday in Corfu dressed in a series unflattering overly casual outfits, including linen drawstring trousers.
As Mr Berlusconi made his way on to the yacht, armed guards were pictured surrounding him.
Protection: Armed guards were seen surrounding the politician on Sunday
Earlier this week the politician said he had nothing to apologise for over the sex scandals that have surrounded him.
His reputation has been battered by often explicit disclosures about his womanising and instead boasted about his support among Italians.
'Nobody can blackmail me and I have no skeletons in the closet. I have nothing to apologise for in my private life,' he said at a news conference.
Mr Berlusconi's wife Veronica Lario said in May that she wanted a divorce over his relationship with a teenage girl from Naples.
Mr Berlusconi said earlier this week he had nothing to apologise for over the sex scandals that have surrounded himThe disclosure was followed by stories of escorts spending the night at his home and reports of intimate conversations secretly taped by one woman, Patrizia D'Addario.
Mr Berlusconi, who denies ever paying for sex, has acknowledged he is 'no saint'.
But at the news conference he denied accusations of chauvinism, fuelled by his sexist jokes and preference for pretty women for political posts.
'The foreign press has written that I hate women,' he said. 'If there is one thing I adore, it is women.'
An opposition senator said it was a 'sad spectacle' to see Mr Berlusconi saying his government was the best while Italy was mired in recession.
He was pictured earlier in the day arriving at the airport in Italy
venerdì 7 agosto 2009
The smart choice for summer: staycations
Gordon Brown has opted for the Lakes rather than a long-haul trip this summer – and he's not alone. Most leaders don't want to be seen abroad in a recession
.........
Berlusconi: Whipped into shape
Most people in high profile, high pressure jobs like to let their hair down a little come holiday season.
But after all the partying with young starlets and call girls, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, inset, probably feels he has done all that. This year, to the relief of his frazzled PR people, he has opted for a more ascetic summer break.
Of course, with 18 properties, staying at home isn't quite so boring for Mr Berlusconi as it is for the rest of us. The libidinous media mogul is retreating to his villa in Arcore, right, outside Milan, and is relying on a disciplinarian Austrian lady to whip him into shape. During their 10-day stay in Arcore, Frau Gertraud Mitterrutzner von Guggenberg and her team, from a private clinic in the mountains of South Tyrol, will subject the 72-year-old Mr Berlusconi to a strict daily routine of muesli and sit-ups. The official line: the stay will "allow him to slim down and reactivate his metabolism".
The notoriously vain Prime Minister is concerned about the extra pounds he's put on as a result of steroid injections needed for his neck pain. "I'm doing 10 days of sporting therapy, because with the cortisone that I've taken I need to burn off a bit of weight," he told reporters. The Von Guggenberg clinic, which espouses a strict diet and hydrotherapy, has proved a favourite of Italian celebrities past and present, from fashion designer Ottavio Missoni to actor and "Dolce Vita" star, Marcello Mastroianni. After the lurid headlines of recent months, Mr Berlsuconi will hope the treatments reinvigorate him for the fray.
But there will be extra pressure on Frau Mitterrutzner von Guggenberg to work miracles in the purification department now the Prime Minister has decided to shelve his pilgrimage to the shrine of Padre Pio. The trip was cancelled when it became obvious such a PR stunt was more likely to incite Catholic anger than appease it.
For the rest of August, the resilient, but politically wounded, Prime Minister will spend time with his grandchildren in Arcore, no doubt praying the ladies in his life don't produce more nasty surprises.
Michael Day
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-smart-choice-for-summer-staycations-1766948.html
.........
Berlusconi: Whipped into shape
Most people in high profile, high pressure jobs like to let their hair down a little come holiday season.
But after all the partying with young starlets and call girls, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, inset, probably feels he has done all that. This year, to the relief of his frazzled PR people, he has opted for a more ascetic summer break.
Of course, with 18 properties, staying at home isn't quite so boring for Mr Berlusconi as it is for the rest of us. The libidinous media mogul is retreating to his villa in Arcore, right, outside Milan, and is relying on a disciplinarian Austrian lady to whip him into shape. During their 10-day stay in Arcore, Frau Gertraud Mitterrutzner von Guggenberg and her team, from a private clinic in the mountains of South Tyrol, will subject the 72-year-old Mr Berlusconi to a strict daily routine of muesli and sit-ups. The official line: the stay will "allow him to slim down and reactivate his metabolism".
The notoriously vain Prime Minister is concerned about the extra pounds he's put on as a result of steroid injections needed for his neck pain. "I'm doing 10 days of sporting therapy, because with the cortisone that I've taken I need to burn off a bit of weight," he told reporters. The Von Guggenberg clinic, which espouses a strict diet and hydrotherapy, has proved a favourite of Italian celebrities past and present, from fashion designer Ottavio Missoni to actor and "Dolce Vita" star, Marcello Mastroianni. After the lurid headlines of recent months, Mr Berlsuconi will hope the treatments reinvigorate him for the fray.
But there will be extra pressure on Frau Mitterrutzner von Guggenberg to work miracles in the purification department now the Prime Minister has decided to shelve his pilgrimage to the shrine of Padre Pio. The trip was cancelled when it became obvious such a PR stunt was more likely to incite Catholic anger than appease it.
For the rest of August, the resilient, but politically wounded, Prime Minister will spend time with his grandchildren in Arcore, no doubt praying the ladies in his life don't produce more nasty surprises.
Michael Day
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-smart-choice-for-summer-staycations-1766948.html
Berlusconi has overseen Italy’s decline
From Mr. Bill Emmott
Sir, Franco Frattini (Letters, August 4th) is surely correct to lament the resort to stereotypes when writing about Italy. But, as Italy’s foreign minister, he in turn should avoid trotting out the standard lines laid down by his prime minister about his country's economy when a mere glance at the facts will show them to be utterly false.
Contrary to his claim that Italy “is exhibiting remarkable resilience and vitality during the current global financial and economic crisis”, the International Monetary Fund’s latest forecasts suggest its real gross domestic product will contract this year by 5.1 per cent, with a further (if tiny) contraction in 2010, making it second only to Germany among the European Union’s big economies in terms of economic shrinkage. Forecasts can, of course, turn out to be wrong, but Mr Frattini should note that in 2008, too, Italy had a bad year, suffering a 1 per cent GDP contraction when all the other big European economies managed to grow.
One cannot blame everything on Silvio Berlusconi: even with Viagra, he is not that potent. But perhaps Mr Frattini could let us know how Mr Berlusconi’s “ability to govern the country and address national emergencies” can be squared not just with the latest economic data but also with the comment by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, in its recent survey of Italy, that relative to other rich nations the country “began to fall back quite abruptly after 2000”. Mr Berlusconi has been prime minister for seven of the past nine years.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/df01ae80-821f-11de-9c5e-00144feabdc0.html
Sir, Franco Frattini (Letters, August 4th) is surely correct to lament the resort to stereotypes when writing about Italy. But, as Italy’s foreign minister, he in turn should avoid trotting out the standard lines laid down by his prime minister about his country's economy when a mere glance at the facts will show them to be utterly false.
Contrary to his claim that Italy “is exhibiting remarkable resilience and vitality during the current global financial and economic crisis”, the International Monetary Fund’s latest forecasts suggest its real gross domestic product will contract this year by 5.1 per cent, with a further (if tiny) contraction in 2010, making it second only to Germany among the European Union’s big economies in terms of economic shrinkage. Forecasts can, of course, turn out to be wrong, but Mr Frattini should note that in 2008, too, Italy had a bad year, suffering a 1 per cent GDP contraction when all the other big European economies managed to grow.
One cannot blame everything on Silvio Berlusconi: even with Viagra, he is not that potent. But perhaps Mr Frattini could let us know how Mr Berlusconi’s “ability to govern the country and address national emergencies” can be squared not just with the latest economic data but also with the comment by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, in its recent survey of Italy, that relative to other rich nations the country “began to fall back quite abruptly after 2000”. Mr Berlusconi has been prime minister for seven of the past nine years.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/df01ae80-821f-11de-9c5e-00144feabdc0.html
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