As the spread falls to 286 this afternoon Prime Minister Monti remarked that he is pleased to have reached the objective he declared when his administration took over the country 13 months ago after borrowing costs for Italy had reached unsustainable levels; international
financial markets had wholly lost confidence in the country's
economy.
However Silvio Berlusconi, whose government lost a major vote of confidence in the Lower House in November 2011, to be replaced by Monti's, has announced that should he win the February general elections there will be a commission of inquiry into his fall. His suspicions of an international plot to be rid of him encompass: the Chancellor of Germany; the President of Italy; the presidents of the European Union Council and its Commission; the current Italian prime minister; and various technical advisors who bamboozled him with ostensibly non-political advice that the Italian economy was in a catastrophic position.
Mr Berlusconi is, and was then, engaged in trial and appeal against conviction on a number of personal matters.
Mr Monti finds himself confused by Mr Berlusconi "at a logical level" (Berlusconi having called for Monti to: lead a coalition of the Right; not to stand at all; to recognise that he is unable to command votes; for the electorate to vote for the Democratic Party - ie statist Left and extreme Left; and to stand as President Napolitano's replacement, among other suggestions). Monti nevertheless thought the idea of a commission of inquiry on the fall of the Berlusconi administration "interesting".
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3 comments:
It's not hard to believe that the Clown *was* forced out as a result of intense behind the scene pressures, and I suspect this will easily find traction in Italy.
OK, he didn't actually slap and pinch Angela Merkel's bottom - but that they were afraid that he might do was reason enough for many to exclude him from the council of the great.
As I recall, Berlusconi was ousted only a few days after opining in public that the Euro was "not necessarily the optimal currency for Italy."
I still suspect that this one, indeed perhaps his only moment of clarity, was the trigger for the coup.
'.. was the trigger for the coup.'
But whose coup? The bigger picture (to borrow a phrase) is unnerving.
There is a constitution as under-determined as that of the UK, despite its 'written' status.
A President with extensive but undefined powers to intervene in extremis.
A chance for the 'Left' and a President of the 'Left' to deliver an electoral victory, after 66 years to the 'Left'.
And an honourable, competent man for whom to 'slap and pinch Angela Merkel's bottom' is beyond thinking, and for whom righting the Italian economy is second nature.
Once he's done that he's supposed to step smartly into the retiring President's shoes and lend what powers he chooses to interpret as his in support of a probably minority 'Left' administration. Except he regards such an administration as dominated, indeed controlled, by extremists and realised socialists; and having sorted out the worst he does his duty by ignoring the offered presidency and pulls the rug out from under the 'Left'.
The rage of the 'Left' at Monti measures the importance of his sacrifice. He could have taken the presidency and the glory as saviour of the nation. Instead he's facing these people and being blamed for giving Berlusca another chance.
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