The decision by the Italian Constitutional Court to reject a law giving five top legislators immunity from prosecution while they are in office has resulted in a deep sigh of relief among other European Union countries. They have been deeply embarrassed by the unseemly maneuverings of the present Italian government. The law, driven through Parliament last year by controversial Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, was a blatantly self-serving piece of legislation since Berlusconi himself was at that very moment on trial for corruption. As a result of his new law, the case was dropped. Now, at no small expense to the Italian taxpayer, the whole prosecution can — and will — start again. Thoughts may even be turning toward Berlusconi’s impeachment for an outrageous attempt to interfere with the judicial process. That Berlusconi had the nerve to distort his country’s judicial system has lowered Italy’s stock internationally and humiliated the EU.

The law went through shortly before Berlusconi assumed the European presidency. That six-month stint was a disaster. Not only did the Italian leader slur his critics, publicly comparing a German MEP to a Nazi concentration camp guard, but he proved incapable of steering the delicate and crucial debate on EU constitutional change in advance of the EU’s biggest expansion. The negotiations would have been hard enough for anyone but Berlusconi never came close to succeeding. He enjoyed little respect from his fellow European politicians. It was not only his rudeness and intemperate remarks. That a politician within a European Union which makes so much of its democratic credentials could behave with such brazen self-interest meant that clearly little confidence could be placed in his judgment nor indeed his honesty. What made matters even worse at the time was that a large number of Italians were at least mildly amused by their leader’s antics. Many laughed at his anti-German jibes or smiled when he rudely stood up the visiting German prime minister at the Venice opera.

The truth is that populist rhetoric and tub-thumping politics only suffices for so long. Italy’s economic problems, its corruption and disorganization persist. Berlusconi’s premiership has achieved little for anyone except Berlusconi and now that the way is clear for his trial for corruption to begin again, it may be seen that he has not been able to help himself. The Italians have been ill-served by almost all their governments since the end of World War II. A deep cynicism has settled upon them. If their leaders could not behave reputably, why should they? Hence massive tax evasion and moral corrosion. The only thing to be said for Berlusconi was that, unlike his predecessors, he was flagrant in his misbehavior. He might yet find an honorable place in Italian political folklore by resigning but that would be out of character.