The bill that Italy cannot pay

The worst that was forecast punctually took place. The spread between Italian and German Treasury bonds reached a new high since when the European Central Bank on Monday August 8th started buying our and Spanish bonds.

At the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio Monday morning, I listened to Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti talking for endless minutes about Waterloo, Westphalia, Deauville and Versailles in front of an astonished public that wanted urgent answers to cure the Italian sickness.

That morning, I pointed out more than once that there is a very serious global problem in addition to, more importantly, a specific, very serious Italian problem that regards the credibility of its governing class and the sense of responsibility of the opposition and its entire management class. No one (and I mean no one) can be allowed to "play" with savings and the work of Italians while the house (this house) is burning down.

The addiction to the daily scandal that directly invests the Prime Minister, his ministers and their closest aides and people who represent the most important opposition party (and not just that), undermines at the roots the civil conscience of a Country. It weakens in an unsettling way its ethical fiber; it touches the heart of the identity of the Italian Republic and the propulsive strength of its community of citizens and its economy.

Before reaching the point that nothing can be done, before getting to the point that solid and liquid Italian banks are forced to unfairly pay the bill of a super-indebted Country, the spirit of unity urged again yesterday by the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano has to be found and they should prove that it can be translated into unpopular choices and an immediate and forward-looking action. Choices based on "knowing in order to decide" as Luigi Einaudi would say and that we persist in thinking should belong, today more than ever, to who has the honor (and burden) of representing this Country. If they are able to do so, they should do so, otherwise they should have at least the honesty and the dignity of paying for the consequences.

P.S. Our (serious) weaknesses do not authorize anyone, even less Chancellor Merkel, to lightly compare Italy to Greece.

translated by Yahel Rebaudo

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