M onti's agenda is focused on reforms. And so is Monti's list. The former premier tried to incorporate reformists on both sides, left and right, even if it meant negotiating with allied parties.

On the list "Scelta Civica" with candidates for the Camera, the Professor was able to include many representatives from society at large, meaning non politicians but in the Senate, which he shares with UDC and Fli (the two allied center parties) he had to mediate much, so that the weight of the political machines ended up being most predominant.
Monti keeps on repeating that his candidates have not been selected solely on the basis that they come from the center and that he aims to draw people from both sides, on the right and the left, with the understanding that they are willing to embark on a path of "radical reforms", namely: in the world of labour, public administration and justice, in the energy sector and in the field of taxation. This means that at the top of the lists submitted by the Professor, we find men like Pietro Ichino, labour lawyer from the Democratic Party, an advocate of labour reform based on ‘flexicurity' along with the former leader of the PDL at the EU Parliament Mario Mauro, who is much appreciated by the European People's Party. What is missing in the mix are economists and professionals of international standing as one might have expected given Monti's background.

The Professor has this idea: right and left reformists must join paths in order to make reforms while rejecting the old ideologies of their parties of origin. The former Prime Minister is in fact very critical of the political parties even if they supported him solidly during the thirteen months of his administration: the center-left, he complains, curbed his labour reforms, while Berlusconi's center-right put a block on innovation particularly in the field of justice. In this way Monti argues that the government was unable to press the accelerator on those "radical reforms" which were needed to help "those outside corporations, without secure income and young people". A concept he repeated yesterday at the international forum of Davos.

That said, one of the most common objections against Monti is this: if his " Scelta Civica" wants to go beyond the old parties, then why is he allied with two groups that are a direct throw back to political movements of the past, such as the 'UDC (coming from the former Christian Democrats) and Fli (which has roots in the radical right wing)? The Professor replies that the centrist movement was the only one that always supported, unconditionally, the reforms he proposed.
It stands to reason that while Monti swears he will not participate in "governments that do not have a strong reformist agenda," after the vote he will be forced to compromise with whoever wins the election.
(Traduzione di James Tierney)
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