A bid farewell, a Country to save

Let's start from the points that are certain. First of all, it is certain that yesterday a deep and dramatic Government crisis actually began. A long season that started in 1994 and that was based on the personality and the ambitions of Silvio Berlusconi is coming to an end. It was the European demands towards Italy, with tones that were ever more concerned and skeptical, to impose and mark the crisis. They are asking for seriousness, they are demanding credibility. They no longer trust words or promises.

The second certain point is that the spread is flying towards the incredible 500 threshold as is the market's diffidence, to say the least, towards our political rituals and the inconsistency of the Government. The paralysis is by now a luxury that is unsustainable.

Another certain point is that the Prime Minister is essentially resigning. It is the result of the talks with the President of the Republic, after the serious defeat incurred at the Lower House on the annual State budget. There is no doubt that the phase after Berlusconi has began, also if it is being postponed by a couple of weeks: the time necessary, as it was explained, to approve the measures of the "stability law", strengthened by the constant ultimatums that by now arrive on a daily basis from the European Union who is intent in imposing its rules on the Italians rebels.

The problem is that these measures are not ready yet. They will be, we have to believe it, but for now we know almost nothing. Which measures, drafted in which terms, able to support how much unpopularity? These are all questions that to date have no answers. Therefore it is difficult to forecast how quick the approval procedure will be and how much convergence there will be between the ruling coalition and the opposition in Parliament.

Let's look at the still unsolved problems. Berlusconi managed yesterday to buy some time, but more in appearance than in reality. He will try to use this time to widen the distance among political forces and to prove, for example, that there are thousands of contradictions from within that tear apart the opposition. If this is the game, it risks backfiring against its inventor. What is expected from the Prime Minister, who reached the point of bidding farewell, is instead a strong sense of responsibility. Berlusconi told Napolitano that he wants to resign after the "stability law" in order to honor his commitment towards Europe and to regain this way a crumble of credibility. It would be good for him to abide by this intention and to resign an instant after Parliament's approval, maybe also with the help from the opposition.

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