Newsgroup: it.politica.polo
Titolo: L'Ulivo uno dei migliori governi, dice l'Economist

THE ECONOMIST
Berlusconi's return
May 8th 2001
From The Economist Global Agenda 
THE LEFTF'S "OLIVE THREE" ALLIANCE HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MORE SUCCESSFUL
GOVERNMENTS IN POST-WAR ITALIAN HISTORY.
 And yet most commentators believe that it will be defeated in Italy’s
general election on Sunday May 13th by the right's coalition led by
Silvio Berlusconi, the country’s richest man 
Reuters 
Silvio the rich
 
SILVIO BERLUSCONI is locked in a string of legal battles. He faces
accusations of corruption. If elected prime minister for a second
time, it seems inevitable that his business empire would entangle his
government in a web of conflicting interests. And yet he looks headed
for victory in Italy’s general election on Sunday May 13th. At least
the Italian voters will be making their choice with their eyes wide
open.
An editorial and an investigative article published on April 27th by
The Economist (see article), argued that Mr Berlusconi is “unfit” to
run his country, triggered an unprecedented furore across Italy. Mr
Berlusconi dismissed the articles as “garbage”. And, according to
opinion polls at least, the electorate so far seems unmoved by
allegations about his business conduct. 
A Berlusconi victory is still not certain. A large proportion of
voters say they remain undecided. But the mere fact that Mr Berlusconi
is ahead, and expected to win, is remarkable. His first stint as prime
minister, in 1994, ended in failure. Questions about his business
methods have been widely aired. What is more, he is facing a
government which, by Italian standards, has been a success.
 
 
 
The left achieved power in 1996 under the leadership of Romano Prodi,
an economist who is now president of the European Commission. Formed
by remnants of the old political ruling class after the corruption
probes of the early 1990s, and ranging in the backgrounds of its
members from Christian Democrats to reformed ex-Communists, the Olive
Tree promised a new kind of politics. Mr Prodi managed the difficult
task of reducing Italy’s chronic budget deficits, which enabled Italy
to enter the European Union’s single currency in 1998. The coalition
also privatised $75 billion worth of state industries, cut inflation
by half and restored economic growth—although Italy still lags the EU
average in both growth and unemployment. Last but not least, the main
bits of the coalition managed to survive a complete parliamentary
term, albeit under three different prime ministers in four
administrations.
But the coalition has also had failures. Its biggest policy failure
was not to push through the completion of the constitutional reforms
which began in the early 1990s. Mr Berlusconi cleverly turned a
referendum last May on electoral changes into a vote on the government
itself. Although a large majority voted for the changes, the
referendum was ruled invalid because less than 50% of the electorate
voted. Too many people took Mr Berlusconi’s advice to “stay at home
and send them home”. 
And while the coalition remained in office, it also fell prey to the
fractious party politics that had brought down most other Italian
governments. Its way of coping with these difficulties was to keep
changing its leader. The impression this revolving-door leadership
left with many voters was that nothing much had changed. Italian
politics was still dominated by party squabbles and back-room deals.
 
AP 
Francesco the beautiful
 
The coalition’s current candidate to be prime minister is Francesco
Rutelli, a handsome, young (46 to Mr Berlusconi’s 64) former mayor of
Rome who lacks national experience—he was chosen only last
November—but he is nevertheless a smooth political campaigner. Voters
seem to like Mr Rutelli personally, but they seem to respect the
“self-made” Mr Berlusconi more as a leader; many believe him when he
says that he has done no worse than most other Italian businessmen. 
Mr Berlusconi also has his problems with allies, most notably with
Umberto Bossi, the leader of the Northern League. Mr Bossi brought
down Mr Berlusconi’s first government, but Mr Berlusconi insists that
if they win this time, Mr Bossi will remain loyal. But that, too,
could be a problem. Mr Bossi’s party once demanded outright separation
of Italy's northern region from the rest of the country, now it claims
to seek just greater autonomy. Often compared with Jörg Haider, the
far-right’s leader in Austria, Mr Bossi recently described Giuliano
Amato, Italy's widely respected outgoing prime minister, as a “Nazi
dwarf”. In office, Mr Bossi seems unlikely to curb his tongue. 
Despite their different styles and rhetoric, in policy terms the
programmes of the two coalitions are strikingly similar. Both promise
to lighten the weight of government by cutting red tape, and both
agree that Italy’s constitution needs further reform, despite Mr
Berlusconi’s scuttling of the last attempt. All parties have grand
plans to address the woes of Italy's Mezzogiorno, the south, where a
fifth of the workforce (twice the national average) have no jobs. Even
the two groups' promises on taxation are fairly similar. Both say they
will cut it. 
 
 
 
In any event, whichever coalition forms a government will have its
hands tied by the European Union's stability pact, which limits, among
other things, the size of the public deficit. Mr Berlusconi's plans
sound more extravagant than Mr Rutelli's, though Giulio Tremonti, the
would-be treasury minister of Forza Italia! (Go, Italy!), Mr
Berlusconi’s party, has sought to reassure businessmen that election
hyperbole will give way to more sober action once his team is in
office. Neither side seems ready to tackle reform of Italy’s
overgenerous pension system, which would be necessary to finance any
big changes to tax and spending.
On foreign policy, the tones of the two coalitions' views are
certainly different, the content less so. Mr Rutelli's manifesto is
more eagerly internationalist; it sounds warmer towards international
bodies such as the UN, the OECD and even NATO. The right generally
echoes the left's enthusiasm for integrating Italy more tightly within
the EU, but sounds more nationalist; the left promises that Italy will
play a bigger part, for instance, in EU aid programmes. 
But perhaps the most emotional issue dividing left and right is that
of illegal immigration. Both sides, of course, are against it. But the
right sounds much fiercer toward the illegals, blaming them for crime
and demanding harsher measures against them and more peremptory
expulsion. Mr Bossi sounds particularly harsh towards immigrants in
general. This issue might be the clincher. 
If the right wins, and Mr Berlusconi becomes prime minister, Italy is
likely to remain a co-operative and committed member of the European
Union. But other EU leaders will be left with the unsavoury task of
negotiating, and chummily hobnobbing, with a billionaire who has
recently been under investigation for false accounting, tax fraud and
bribing judges. And they will not be the only ones. In July the G7
summit of rich nations is scheduled to take place in Genoa. When
George Bush and other world leaders get off the plane, will their
host, waiting there to greet them and beaming before the television
cameras, be Mr Berlusconi?

 May 8th 2001
uhei pirla, siamo al 22 maggio, oggi!
ti è andata in riserva la bomboletta?
proposito, sull'aereo tieni giù le zampe dalla mascherina, non cominciare a
scroccare e farti riconoscere come italiano...

 From The Economist Global Agenda
A che ti sei ridotto......solo  per non voler ancora riconoscere onestamente
che la Casa delle libertà ha riportata una onesta, netta, indiscussa e,
(soprattutto), ampia vittoria elettorale!. m elio

 wrote in message bTjO6.1967$d8.3...@news2.tin.it...



Lo so che per i plagiati The Economist, la bibbia del capitalismo
liberale, č spazzatura!! Cosě a sputacchiato il piduista e cosě
ripetete.
Ora la vittoria della Cosca delle Libertŕ č legittima? In base alle
leggi vigenti sě, lo č.
Peccato perň che non abbiamo regole di salvaguardia per la formazione
del libero consenso: quindi tu e tanti altri siete stati manipolati
ben bene da un tizio a cui č stato lasciato un potere mediatico
antidemocratico che fa ridere il mondo alle nostre spalle.
E' ovvio che se tu permetti a un cittadino di suonare la grancassa con
tre reti TV, giornali, magazine, e miliardi in manifesti, alla fine
vinca le elezioni!
Sono truccate da PRIMA!!!! E' per questo che i dittatori vengono
spesso rieletti con 90% del consenso!!! Non c'č mica bisogno di fare i
brogli! E' piů facile condizionare i popoli!
 Il mondo sghignazza: sono gli Italiani un popolo di stronzi? E non
fanno differenza tra destra e sinistra! perchč non č meno stronzo un
D'Alema che sostiene che il conflitto di interessi lo deve risolvere
Berlusconi da un berlusconide che dice che non esiste proprio....
E.

ripetete.
Il babbeo è uscito con la sua dichiarazione di santità, ora the
economist l' ha innalzato al rango di bibbia, ah ah ah aha ha ha


 A CON L'ACCA , PREGO .

 A CON L'ACCA , PREGO .
Ti dispiace se non ce la metto? Metto l'accento: à. OK? ;-)))
E.

On Fri, 25 May 2001 22:39:23 GMT, 
ernest...@libero.it
 (ernesto)
wrote:

Ti fa fatica mettere un ACCA ???
Eppure scrivi così tanto !

> 
lug...@go.com
 (FB) wrote:




Il maniaco e graforroico cialtrone, scrive tanto ma di quello che
scrive non capisce un ACCA.
g

 Ti fa fatica mettere un ACCA ???
Vi dispiace se faccio una battuta? Cosě... tanto per
svelenire il clima.
Credo che reputi inutile mettercela. Perchč voi non capite
un'acca. :-))
Un saluto
Gianni
Membro del "Luigino Fans Club" tessera n. 0001
--
Che bello. Siamo finalmente nel paese di Bengodi.
E abbiamo votato tutti in massa per Veltroni. Cosa? Non
dovevamo? Dovevamo votare per Tajani? Ma se Veltroni č
piů in gamba! Non dovevamo votarlo lo stesso? Peccato
che di fraintendimendo in fraintendimento, abbiamo frainteso
;-)
pure stavolta!!!!!

Gianni
Bravo! Mi hai letto nel pensiero....
Ciao.
Ernesto