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Oh no, not again

Silvio Berlusconi has been in power in Italy for almost 50 days. Watching his new government in action is a bit like sitting down to view a bad old movie again. When the Forza Italia leader last ruled Italy from 2001 to 2006, he spent too much time legislating to protect himself from prosecution and too little reforming Italy’s sluggish economy. It is too early to make firm judgments, of course. But Mr Berlusconi’s latest essay in government already has the makings of another horror show.

Once again, the 71-year old prime minister is spending much of his political energy legislating to protect himself from Italy’s public prosecutors. He wants to pass a law that would suspend for one year most court cases where the alleged crime carries a sentence of more than 10 years. If this law is passed, it would scupper a trial due to start next month in which Mr Berlusconi is charged with paying $600,000 to his British lawyer, David Mills. Needless to say, the opposition has dubbed the legislation the “save the premier law”.

Mr Berlusconi does not stop here. He is also trying to introduce a law that would give immunity from prosecution to the top office holders in the Italian state, including himself. Such legislation would be unthinkable in most western states and was deemed unconstitutional by Italy’s supreme court when Mr Berlusconi last tried to introduce it in 2004. Now he is back in office, Mr Berlusconi is having another go.

All this would be of modest interest if Mr Berlusconi were expending the same amount of energy reforming Italy’s sluggish economy. But here, too, fears are mounting. Last time he was in power, one of Mr Berlusconi’s worst errors was to let Italy’s deficit and debt levels spiral out of control. One wonders if we are about to see the same again.

The Berlusconi government last week introduced a budget that will see the public deficit rising from 1.9 per cent of gross domestic product in 2007 to 2.5 per cent in 2008. The rise may be justified by low economic growth; but there is no sign yet that this government is maintaining a tight grip on public spending.

For Italy’s sake, things must improve from here. The country has one of the slowest growth rates in the eurozone. It needs serious, responsible government to turn the economy round. Mr Berlusconi said on Wednesday that Italy’s public prosecutors had subjected him to an endless “Calvary”. But the only Calvary being suffered in this story is the one endured by Italy, which needs a dramatic reversal in its political and economic fortunes.

dal Financial Times del 26 giugno 2008

Non lo sapevo che i sovietici si fossero infiltrati fino dentro a Buckingham Palace...

Vi consiglio di guardare Crozza, a questo punto una sana risata diventa necessaria.