There always seems to be a certain element of operatic gesture in any Italian situation. After all, Italy is supposed to be the motherland of melodrama, isn’t she?
Italy is certainly in the midst of an economic and political drama. Hundreds of flights have been canceled by an exhausted Alitalia facing yet another barrage of strikes. Thousands of students marched through Rome to protest against changes to the education system, including funding cuts. Even La Scala opera house is in the midst of labor turmoil and has been forced to cancel the Merry Widow because of a strike.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi himself is not immune from theatrics. He recently played a joke on German Chancellor Angela Merkel by jumping out at her from behind a lamppost with a cry of “Cucù!”. Her reaction was one of amusement: The lady opened her arms and replied “Silvio!”.
Yet this time there is a sense of doom. A few weeks ago Alitalia’s pilots and cabin staff were chanting “meglio falliti che in mano dei banditi”, which rhymes, but means “better bankrupt than hostages to bandits”. The rhyme is symptomatic of the demise of commonsense by employees of a cash-strapped company with a 2.3 billion euro deficit. Alitalia would have been long dead without state help and public money. In the middle of an awful global financial crisis, one wouldn’t have imagined there was such a propensity for career suicide.
Guglielmo Epifani, the leader of Italy’s biggest union, the Italian General Confederation of Work (CGIL), says the crisis is more serious than the government depicts it — in his words, an “avalanche” is coming. The opposition leader, Walter Veltroni, agrees. But CGIL’s idea of lending a helping hand is to call a general strike on Dec. 12. This would see hundreds of thousands of workers across all sectors, excluding the police, walk out.
The government’s hopes of shoring up the economy rest on announcing an anti-crisis plan in a draft that could become a definitive decree by Dec. 15. This will inject 16 billion euro into public works projects, create a 4 billion euro fund and a 150 to 800 euro one-off bonus to help families with an income lower than 20,000 euro per year. But the package seems little more than a desperate attempt to project optimism and inspire trust in the government.
Still, there are some glimmers of hope for the Italian economy. Manufacturing in Italy has never been neglected in favor of the financial services industry. Italians are far less in debt as individuals than the British, for instance. We, as a people, tend to regard our banks as a place for saving money, more than for borrowing it. And “Made in Italy” still carries a certain cachet.
Berlusconi recently invited top business leaders from the luxury goods sector for dinner. “I expect suggestions and advice from you. The government is working for you and is ready to listen to anything you have to say. You are the fuel of the country and we are a team that is anxious to do all we can to reinforce the businesses you represent, both at home and abroad,” he cheerfully said to them.
Berlusconi, like Italy more generally, is in a desperate psychological fight against pessimism. He will not succeed while the country is beset by strikes and squabbles.
What Italy needs is good dose of commonsense and some home truths.
