Yesterday the Italian government fell when Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi stepped down. Italian politics is complicated and despite my efforts since 1998, I have yet to fully grasp the mechanisms behind it. So far, it is my understanding that most Italian governance (if you can call it that) functions solely on momentum.
The first time the government fell when I was in Italy, I was surprised, to say the least. It was 1998 and I had yet to learn that no alliance had ever made it to the end of its five-year mandate.
"What will happen?" I asked around.
The Italians blinked back at me and shrugged. "Nothing. Same as before."
Italy has a multi-party system and the way it's set up is that a coalition of multiple political parties is elected to government with the prime minister at the head of the group. They vote on policies and when they can't get a quorom to agree on proposed policy, the prime minister is forced to step down and the government falls. This happens so often that Berlusconi's government has been the only one in this republic to ever last a full term.
Interestingly enough, the issue that led to Prodi's downfall is one that's very close to home, in more ways than one. Last weekend, while I was away, there was a huge, peaceful demonstration in a nearby town against the proposed expansion of a U.S. military base, about 45 minutes away from where I live. Apparently, the demonstrators gave Prodi's allies the courage they needed to vote against giving the U.S. more land for their military operations. Also, many of Prodi's allies want Italian troops out of Afghanistan for good. So, although the papers say the Italian government couldn't agree on Italian foreign policy, it sounds more to me like the Italian government couldn't agree on whether to condone the Bush administration's foreign policy.
This morning, we might not have a government, but we still have to go to work, pay taxes, and obey the law. Not much has changed since 1998 when the Italians told me that everything would be the same as before. There is already talk of Prodi heading the interim government or being elected back into office all over again.
To read about it in Italian, click here. An English language article is here.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
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6 commenti:
I didn' even realize that Berlusconi was no longer prime minister. The government in Italy seems even crazier than the one over here.
We've only had the new government for about nine months. And Berlusconi is still in the news every single day as "the opposition". And really, it doesn't matter who's prime minister in Italy. No matter what party they're supposed to represent, they're all looking out for the same thing: themselves.
When I read the news last night .. i just thought "not so different from Fiji after all" ... i doubt it will have any impact on our lives here ...
they're all looking for the same thing: "themselves" - that sums it all up really well...it's the same all around the world, yes?
Thanks for posting the link written in English!
I guess they've had three thousand years to learn to ignore the hijinks of the ambitious madmen who run their peninsula.
I always feel a mixture of frustration and admiration when I read about Italian politics. On the one hand, I think "What a mess. Why do people put up with that?" On the other, I think, "How sensible that people go on with their lives without worrying about the politicians."
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