Monday, February 24, 2014
For the third time in less than three years, Italy is again facing the rise to power of a new unelected Prime Minister. After the decision of the leading Democratic Party to withdraw support for their own current Premier Enrico Letta, President Giorgio Napolitano decided to step up again and asked the Democratic Party’s new chief, to form a new majority coalition.
Whereas the EU establishment has greeted the new rampant icon of the Italian political salotto with positive comments, such positions have not been unanimous. Indeed, in the aftermath of the decision, the EU’s recently established “Inter-Institutional Supreme Committee for More Europe Affairs” has taken a drastic position by excluding each and every Italian national from participating to one of the most important sub-committees, the “Forum for More Democracy” (FMD).
“It was a unanimous decision”, FMD chair Mr U. Rope explained, “which is very significant considering the name and the mission of our Forum”. “Significantly, out of intellectual honesty, even Italian MEPs and Commission officials who have been so far engaged in the FMD’s activities voted in favour of their own expulsion.” When asked for the reasons behind such a drastic turn of events, Rope clarified that, “since most of the discussions within the FMD are focused on the need for the EU to solve the Democratic Deficit problem and ensure more political representation to its citizens, the participation the Italian nationals, who have proved inept at voting a Premier into office, is counterproductive at least.”
The three unelected Italian leaders immediately reacted to Mr Rope’s straightforward remarks. Former PM and EC Commissioner Mario Monti hastened to explain that, when Napolitano first called him in 2011, he was in the middle of a working lunch where he was trying to explain the benefits of more European Integration to Mr Farage. He was so disappointed by the lack of ability to understand a basic concept such as that of the single market that he accepted Napolitano’s proposal right away just to have an excuse to leave the room. Enrico Letta, a Ph.d in European Affairs, justified his role as unelected Prime Minister by admitting that, at the time, he was just waiting for the results of the research grant he applied for to continue his studies on Altiero Spinelli’s heritage when he accidentally picked up Napolitano’s call. Matteo Renzi, former mayor of Florence, emphasized instead his mandate, “I ruled Florence for quite a long time. Florence is the centre of the Italian cultural and historical tradition. There’s no need for country-wide elections. People love me. I am cool. Deal with it.”
Although at the moment FMD does not seem open to reconsider the Italian national participation to the Forum’s daily activities, a glimmer of hope came unexpectedly from Mr Napolitano himself. “When taking this sort of decisions, you need to put things in the right context” - he explained wisely - “I am sure that people in Brussels will soon change their minds. It is just a matter of time and they will realize that the last democratically elected PM in Italy was Silvio Berlusconi.
