Italy like Argentina, Berlusconi like Evita Peròn?


Is Italy going to make the wrong choice in the upcoming elections? There's a ghost stalking Italy: Evita Peròn. She is loved and reviled for what she has done to her country, Argentina. Whatever you think of her, she was the cause of Argentina's collapse - yet Argentina had been poised to become Latin America's most developed country after World War II, looking like the Latin-American version of Canada. Then Evita came along, and with her rabid, populist message, she managed to demolish everything and push Argentina in long decades of poverty and under-development. 

Evita Peròn, second wife of Argentinian President Peròn - she died in 1952
Is Berlusconi another Evita? Will he do the same for Italy? Will he be the cause of Italy's collapse and exit from the restricted and hallowed club of the most developed countries of the European Union? 

Most importantly: are the Italians really going to vote for their own Evita Berlusconi in spite of his dismal record? 

We are two weeks from the elections and no one for now seems to recall that when he was prime minister (he was in power for some 15 years, from 1994), he has done nothing for them except look after his own interests and waste everybody's time as he fought Italian justice. He's been a terrible model for Italians, especially the young who at first fell in love with him, showing them the power of self-interest to the detriment of the society at large, throwing the whole country back to a dark Middle Ages where everyone looks after himself and damn the country!

Indeed, he has been the cause of Italy's dire and continuing economic problems, in particular the collapse in competitivity and the swelling of the national debt, yet most Italians seem to have forgiven him.

And most Italians seem to have already forgotten what Mario Monti's technical government did for them. How it restored Italy's image and credibility in the international community, an image that had been destroyed by Berlusconi's antics. And how Monti's "Salva Italia" decree extricated Italy from a threatening debt crisis that had downgraded the country to the role of a beggar obliged to pay excessive interest rates to international bond investors - at a cost of course to the average citizen forced to pay a property tax (the "IMU") on his home and accept labor law reforms. Now Berlusconi promises to abrogate the said tax and he has even  had the incredible gall to promise to pay it back! The man is not afraid to lie, he has no sense of responsibility, no regard for his country's standing in the concert of nations. Small wonder he is the laughing stock of the international community.

The trouble is: people in Italy love him. They love to hear that they'll get their money back if they vote for him. Recent polls show that he can count on some 25% of the vote and that Monti is hovering around 11%. The center-left coalition led by PD Secretary Bersani remains the largest party but probably only by a few percentage points - and it is likely that to govern it will have to call in Monti. Meanwhile, Beppe Grillo's non-party is growing as Italians are disgusted by politics and their political class they call the "casta". His Cinque Stelle (Five Star Movement)  could harness close to 20% of the vote. 

The real danger is that Berlusconi could lose the deputy  Chamber but win the Senate, and this would cause a total stall in government: no law would pass, the country would be paralyzed.

An Argentinian Evita result? It certainly looks that way...

Let me be clear: if Berlusconi wins and tries to redeem his promises to the Italian electorate, he will go counter to all the international agreements Italy has taken with the Central European Bank, the IMF and the European Union. He would set Italy on to its way out of the Euro and Europe. 

Do the Italians really want an Italy-exit/Italexit? Do they realize that going back to the Lira, the whole Italian economy will grind to a halt, their savings will evaporate and their pensions drop to zero?


Silvio Berlusconi 

(photo credits: for Berlusconi: rogimmi; for Evita Peròn, www.calamuchitadigital.com.ar )


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Comments

Jo VonBargen said…
You present a convincing argument, indeed, Claude!! Great post!!
Thanks, Jo! We're all very worried over here in Italy. I know a lot of people who don't kow who to vote for - indeed, the average citizen is avoiding the polls, the biggest party is likely to be the one of abstentionism. It bodes ill for democracy!
Jack Durish said…
Is there a good choice? We certainly didn't have one in the past several U.S. elections for President, so I can relate.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be quick to blame the candidates in Italy or the U.S. anymore than I would blame Evita Peron for Argentina's problems. (Incidentally, Argentina's problems predate WWII. In fact, at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, Argentina was well ahead of the U.S. in modernization, industrialization, and its economy. Thus, it's fall from "grace" began then.) No, the problem is with the people losing sight of that which makes a nation truly great, its citizens. They begin to falter when they place too much emphasis on their government. A nation is not its government, its the people.
How true. And a nation gets the government it deserves because...of the people! As to Argentina, yes you're right, but don't forget that coming out of World War II, Argentina had a fantastic export surplus: it had sold its meat to the world! I'm simplifying of course, but the point is that Argentina was economically poised to follow in the footsteps of Canada (it's the same size as Canada more or less, not the US that is very much bigger). Then it politically blew it!

My fear is that Italy will blow it too. So far it has managed to avoid the fate of Argentina even though culturally they have a lot in common - there are so many Italians and Italian immigrants in the Argentinian population that when you're in Buenos Aires you feel you're in a combination Milano-Torino on a mega-style!But Argentina is a real temptation and Berlusconi is the tango type!!