Those who expected the spurt on growth, advocated by President Napolitano, or the discontinuity, invoked by the social partners, are deeply disappointed. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's long-awaited speech to the Chambers is full of appeals to everyone's good will and a few too many self-celebrations, partially acceptable analyzes and fair, albeit belated, admissions on the seriousness of the crisis, but completely lacks the most important: in the face of the evident crisis of confidence and the clear political risk that fully invests Italy and which makes the international crisis much more burdensome for our country, in Berlusconi's speech there is no significant novelty and no strong signal of change that can be appreciated by the markets and by Italy that works, produces and saves.
The pressure from the Quirinale and the advice from the Bank of Italy gave hope that the prime minister would decide, albeit in extremis, to fly high and face the crisis by the horns. He had been advised by many to bring forward to 2012 the balanced budget envisaged by the maneuver of 6 July for the next legislature and by many he had been reminded of the importance of the Draghi agenda for reforms and growth. Unfortunately, neither on debt nor on growth has the Cavaliere been able to provide answers worthy of the financial emergency, which is indeed international but at the moment is particularly Italian and good for him and for us that a choice of elementary wisdom has placed his speech to the Chambers with closed markets. But faced with such a disappointing intervention, one shouldn't have too many illusions about the response that the markets will give starting tomorrow.
Berlusconi has said that he is ready to listen to both the proposals of the opposition and those of the social partners at the table that opens tomorrow and the hope of a radical and urgent change on debt and growth is the last to die, but time is now expired. Either the miracle will arrive within the next 24-48 hours or – faced with the manifest impotence and inability to govern of the Executive in office – it would be better for the country to quickly turn the page and think of an emergency government presided over by a personality of unquestionable credibility. Having a numerical majority in Parliament is not the same as knowing how to govern and the facts could not be more eloquent than that. Sergio Marchionne has a thousand reasons to highlight the leadership crisis that Italy is experiencing and to recall that elsewhere a prime minister resigns for much less than what is happening here.
