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  Dissatisfaction Grows with Italy's Political Caste: How Long Can Prodi Hang On?

Dissatisfaction Grows with Italy's Political Caste How Long Can Prodi Hang On?

By Alexander Smoltczyk in Rome

Part 2: Shameless Self-Enrichment

A new book about the shameless practice of self-enrichment that transcends party affiliations in politics comes at an inopportune time for Italy's political elite. The book, called "The Caste," was written by Gian Antonio Stella, a columnist with leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, and fellow journalist Sergio Rizzo. Since it was published, everyone has been talking about the "costs of politics," from President Giorgio Napolitano to the seamier daily talk show hosts.

Italy has the largest number of members of parliament among industrialized countries, and by far the best-paid Members of the European Parliament. The leftist president of the Campania region spends 12 times as much money representing his region as German President Horst Köhler does for his whole country.

In the upper house of Italy's parliament, there are eight barbers for the senators, who also enjoy perks such as tennis lessons, vacation houses and limousines. Under Berlusconi, even aircraft were available to senators -- if the expense accounts are to be believed, they were apparently in the air for 37 hours a day. Since this scandal came to light, a trace of 1992 has been in the air once again. At the time, "Mani pulite," a campaign to uncover corruption, swept away large sections of the political caste -- at least temporarily.

"The Caste" was even the subject of the annual general meeting of the Italian manufacturers' association, Confindustria. The group's president, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, received a standing ovation after criticizing the "costs of politics" and the self-involved nature of politicians. He described his vision of a different Italy, one with a slimmed-down government and a thoroughly liberalized labor market and tax system.

For some observers this was not so much a plea for change as a campaign manifesto. According to a poll taken after the speech, almost a third of all Italians said they would like to see Montezemolo, who is also the head of automakers Ferrari and Fiat, elected prime minister. Romano Prodi sat in the front row and attempted to maintain his composure.

Italians are beginning to yearn once again for a populist or, better yet, a nonpartisan man (or woman) of action. Unlike the 1990s, this time the pressure on politicians is not coming from the left but from the center.

At an event on May 12 dubbed "Family Day," more than half a million Italians demonstrated for Christian values and family-friendly government policies. Their spokesman, former union leader Savino Pezzotta, promised that his alliance could very well play a useful role in politics in the future -- a statement politicians on both sides clearly understood as a threat.

The key question revolves around who can fill the great void in Italian politics -- in other words, who can attract the constituency of the Democrazia Cristiana, the now defunct Christian democratic party which once dominated Italian politics. So far no one has successfully managed the tightrope act of creating an economically liberal party that also promotes social values acceptable to the Vatican. The fragments of the center can be found in all camps, from the neo-Christian Democrats to Minister of Culture Francesco Rutelli's Margherita Party. Prodi, who is on friendly terms with former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and began his career in the cabinet of former longtime Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, is a dyed-in-the-wool Christian Democrat.

Prodi, for his part, hopes to succeed in committing a portion of the center to his pet project of establishing a party modeled after the Democratic Party in the United States. According to his vision, the two most important parties in his coalition -- the Democrats of the Left and the Margherita -- would miraculously join forces in this new party.

Preparations for the planned inaugural convention this fall have already led to emotionally charged scenes. The two parties Prodi hopes to unite are in fact like fire and water. The Democrats of the Left, led by Piero Fassino, have their roots in Italy's proud and venerable Communist Party, while Margherita sees itself as the political heir of the equally venerable Christian Democratic movement.

But even such impossibilities appear incapable of disturbing "il Professore" Prodi's composure. There are similarities between his government and Italy's state-run airline, Alitalia. In 2006, the carrier was losing €2 million a day and was being forced to a standstill every few weeks by tiny trade unions. Based on rational criteria, the airline should no longer exist. But Alitalia stays in the air, and most of its flights even arrive on time.

Besides, it is by no means the case that everyone in Italy is upset about the country's political troubles. The northern Italian economy is booming, Fiat has been back in the black again for some time and, as a result of a skillful merger with UniCredit, the world's sixth-largest bank was just created in Milan, with Germany's HypoVereinsbank as a junior partner.

The North's savvy businesspeople will continue to dream up new market strategies, no matter what politicians in Rome decide to do. And the South will likely continue to ignore the justice system. In both cases Rome, with its own problems, is far away. And whether a politician succeeds or fails is accepted with equanimity. One simply looks the other way.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan