The most ironic were the French Libération , BILD German: "The Return of the Mummy", and "The Return of the Bunga-Bunga". Perhaps even too picturesque, while the lucid analysis of Le Monde: ”Berlusconi is not at all worried about Italy's fate. He entered the electoral campaign to protect himself from the judges and to take revenge on those who led him to resign in November 2011”. Or of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, who underlines how "Italy is once again proving to be politically unstable, with a faulty electoral law and fragile institutions".
In short, the international press unanimously commented on the Italian political crisis and in particular on the return of Silvio Berlusconi. But there are those who look beyond, and fear for the future of the whole of Europe, like the French Les Echos: “The worst thing that can happen to Italy is to fall into a political crisis that breaks the pace of the reforms initiated by Monti. Berlusconi left the country on the brink of suffocation which, due to its scale, threatened to plunge the eurozone into chaos”. Or again like the German Spiegel, which in the online edition talks about "Revenge of the Knight: the EU partners thought he was gone once and for all but Berlusconi crosses again with Europe".
Also apocalyptic is the picture drawn by Times, who very succinctly writes in an editorial that "Berlusconi's return to power would be a disaster for Italy and for the whole of Europe". However, the US newspaper is less catastrophic in considering this hypothesis truly plausible: "his chances of being re-elected seem relatively low, indeed it is surprising that he still has some".
On the same line, indeed if possible even softer, is the Wall Street Journal, according to which "the Italian elections are not a cause for panic: Berlusconi in the polls is far from Bersani's Pd, who has assured that he will respect his commitments towards the EU". And if "Italy appears ready to follow the reforms, the sell-off of its bonds will begin to present itself as an opportunity".
Instead, the British choose a middle ground Financial Times, historically hostile to Berlusconi but which in this case, while not denying his low esteem, draws attention to Monti's move: "Monti's decision unnerves the markets: investors fear that Monti's resignation will pave the way for a return of Berlusconi". The City bulletin then recalls that ”Monti has done a lot for the eurozone but not enough for Italy while Berlusconi is not the real problem but only the symbol of his rotten politics. Italy is stuck at zero and Monti's resignation is an unwelcome reminder of this."
The only one instead not stopping at current events and wondering about future scenarios is the New York Times: ”The new act of the Italian drama: does Monti the technocrat come out and does Monti the politician enter the stage?”. Has this (also) become the problem now?
