Did you really think Silvio Berlusconi had gone?
Italy's former premier will use all his influence in parliament and the media to undermine Mario Monti and serve his own interests
Mario Monti, Italy's incoming prime minister, left, accepts a small bell from Silvio Berlusconi. Photograph: Romanews/EMPICS Entetainment
There are few Italians who doubt that Mario Monti's new government will deliver the austerity package already agreed upon by European institutions. Monti's reputation and experience in Europe has already won the support of European political leaders, as shown by the upcoming meeting on Thursday with Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. However, if Italy is back on the European scene, the new government – already labelled "the professors' government" – will still be dependent on the main political parties to pass the much-needed reforms in parliament.
And the first person to block such reforms may well be the one that Italians thought they had only just seen the back of. There are reasons to believe that Silvio Berlusconi's Freedom party will fight his battle to prevent domestic reforms that could impede his return as a leader. There are some crucial policy changes that are of particular concern to the former prime minister: electoral reform, justice reform and communication reform, which could ban media tycoons from active politics.
Berlusconi's political agenda is very clear: he has been reported as saying that his party will "unplug Monti's government life support whenever necessary". And this is likely to happen as soon as his name rises in the polls again. There couldn't be a clearer indication of Berlusconi's plans: in the expectation that Italians will quickly forget the incompetence he displayed while in power, Berlusconi hopes to lead his party to success at the next general election in 2013. Those who had hoped that Berlusconi would finally withdraw from politics to write his biography will be sorely disappointed.
The reasons for his enduring fight are manifold. Berlusconi faces several trials, the first of which will resume on 21 November, without his prolonged immunity shield as a premier. His media empire has suffered during the political and economic crisis and a change of electoral law before the new elections might stop him from bringing his closest allies – his lawyers, showgirls and loyal assistants – into parliament.
It's easy to predict that Berlusconi will try to protect his personal interests through two important tools: his deputies in parliament and his untouched media empire. That his unchallenged propaganda machine was already at work at the time of his resignation can be easily illustrated. While in Britain, the BBC was broadcasting Berlusconi's resignation live, Italian state and commercial television chose not to show the celebrations of thousands of Italians in front of the presidential palace. On the day of his resignation, Berlusconi also did something unthinkable for a European democracy: he sent a video message to all television stations (public and commercial) to claim the "impressive achievements of his government" and his "doubled commitment" to Italy's future. He also claimed that he never lost the confidence of the parliament.
Berlusconi's personal propaganda efforts have already been backed by all his media outlets: his commercial television stations, magazines and newspapers are already involved in a strenuous campaign to tarnish Monti's government. The message that his media are sending out to the public is that the new government is one of "bankers" and not of the people.
Italian public television is still managed by some of Berlusconi's strongest supporters – a significant fact, given that a recent study has pointed out that trust in television is the most significant indicator of trust in the Italian prime minister.
We all expect that Monti will prioritise economic policy change over justice, communication and electoral reforms. However, to secure fair elections at the end of his term, a new law on conflict of interest, new media ownership rules and a reform of Italian public broadcasting cannot be delayed further. This would finally put Italy in line with the demands of the Council of Europe and the European parliament. The political independence of Monti from Berlusconi will be judged first and foremost by these urgent changes. Perhaps Gramsci would agree that the old order is over in Italy. We must now wait to see what the new order will look like.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario