Newsgroup: italia.firenze.discussioni
Titolo: Italy's political opera

Dalla CNN. Buona lettura.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/05/italy.vinci/index.html
Bombast and comedy in Italy's political opera
ROME, Italy (CNN) -- I know, news of yet another Italian political
crisis is not very exciting, certainly not easy to explain and in the
end chances are that the next prime minister will keep his job for
ayear or two, and then the circus will start again.
But there are a few reasons why, even if you don't care, you should
keep an eye on what is going on here in Italy now that the
presidenthas dissolved parliament and called for new elections in
April.
First, in case you missed it, this crisis will likely bring
SilvioBerlusconi back to power. That alone, if you like entertainment,
is
one good reason to stay tuned. Second, his challenger is someone you
probably don't know but you will learn to like. And third,
Italianpolitics is like opera: Bombastic, dramatic and amusing.
Let us start with Berlusconi's comeback: In fact the media mogul has
never gone away. He lost the 2006 elections by a handful of
votes(26,000) and most observers predicted Romani Prodi would not last
long.
The country was split in half then and Prodi made the mistake not to
share power with him or other opposition politicians (a sort of
Germanstyle grand coalition if you will).
The country today remains split, except that Berlusconi now enjoys
more support than before since Prodi's outgoing government is hugely
unpopular. It achieved modest progress, but in 20 months managed to
raise taxes, and that never goes down well with voters.
Hence,Berlusconi is poised to win the vote.
His challenger is Walter Veltroni, the current mayor or Rome. By
Italian standards, at 52, he is a young politician. Not new on the
political scene (he was Prodi's deputy in 1996-98) but he has
justformed a new political party and has become a household name.
Veltroni is a movie buff who created the Rome Film Festival, wrote
anovel and is just as media savvy as Berlusconi. Veltroni and
Berlusconi share the ability to speak directly to the people, avoiding
complicated political lingo that often bores voters and supporters. He
will put up a formidable challenge against Berlusconi, but still he
isunlikely to win.
Why? Well, here comes the third reason why you should care and pay
attention to what is going on here, but probably won't because
youdon't like opera.
One of the reasons of political instability is the current
electorallaw, which is highly proportional and allows small parties
with
minimal representation to become king makers in any coalition
government. Prodi needed nine political parties to muster enough
support to run a government. They often squabbled, bickered
andstruggled to remain united.
Veltroni has promised voters he will not seek a similar coalition
withsmall parties (like Communists and Greens for example) and
therefore
he will run alone. However Berlusconi will lead a center-right
coalition, so even if Veltroni receives more votes than Berlusconi
(difficult, but certainly a possibility) he will still have less
votesthan his opponent, who is running together with allies of his
former
government.
Thanks to the current law, Berlusconi would become prime minister
thanks to a complicated vote tally that awards parliament's seats
tothe winning coalition.
You still don't like opera? Here is an aria from the current crisis
you probably missed.
Two weeks ago Prodi was forced to resign after his justice minister,
Clemente Mastella, withdrew his support following the arrest of
hiswife on corruption charges. Mastella himself was put under
investigation.
It turned out the magistrate who ordered the arrest did not have the
authority to do so, and she was released a few days ago (though she
remains under investigation). In other words this latest crisis
beganwith the actions of a magistrate who simply overstepped his
authority.
But wait, there is more.
You think Berlusconi will have an easier task in keeping his coalition
together? Just before Christmas one of Berlusconi's main political
allies, Gianfranco Fini who leads the National Alliance, declared that
he had broken forever with Berlusconi, after one of his television
channels broadcast an embarrassing video of Fini's new girlfriend
witha former lover.
The matter was so serious that Berlusconi announced the creation of a
new party called "People of Liberty". Needless to say today this party
will not run in upcoming elections and Fini together with
otherpolitical allies have fallen into line. They will all run together
with Berlusconi under the old "House of Freedoms" coalition.
You still don't like this political drama unfolding day after day,
week after week, every night on television news? Here is a snapshot
ofwhat the upcoming political campaign could look like.
When Prodi lost the confidence vote last week, lawmakers in the ornate
chambers of the Italian Senate (the second highest authority in the
country) were seen yelling at each other words such as "traitor!"
and"piece of s---!"
Meanwhile Berlusconi's allies uncorked bottles of sparking wine on the
Senate floor as the speaker implored order screaming: "This is not
atavern here!"
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Polls may suggest that Berlusconi will likely win this election, but
they also indicate that Italians are fed up with politics,
politiciansand their perceived inability to care about the country's
needs.
Lets hope this election will be less about drama an more about what
the people need, because in the end it is the credibility of a
countrythat is at stake, not just the seriousness of its leaders
-- 
Jester
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 with Berlusconi under the old "House of Freedoms" coalition.
Si potrebbe scrivere una canzone, con quel titolo...
Ciao, 
-- 
... Anger is a Gift ... 
http://www.comunidelchianti.it/~max
 - 
m...@f33.n550.z2.fidonet.org

> Romani Prodi would not last long.
Romani Prodi ??
In italiano l'aggettivo si accorda ;-)