There is no doubt that Berlusconi's outstretched entry frightened markets and financial operators: the spread danced above 350 for almost the whole day and the bank shares of Piazza Affari dropped several percentage points.
If the withdrawal of the vote of confidence - and the resignation that Monti has announced he intends to deliver after the parliamentary passage of the stability law - did not immediately lead to the fall of the government, Alfano's statements last Friday were however interpreted by the international community as an announced distrust of the so-called “Monti agenda”.
And this is what scares the EU leaders and the chancelleries of the Eurozone more than anything else: will Italy continue on the path of reform embarked on a little over a year ago by the Government of the professors?
Outside Italy, no one, apart from the president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, has so far made controversial statements about the former premier's return to the scene, above all so as not to offer a convenient link to Berlusconi's anti-European populism.
But the concern of a demagogic and populist turn in view of the next elections is palpable: “Angela Merkel he has always worked optimally with the Prime Minister, Mario Monti”, said the spokesman for the German Chancellery, adding that he did not want to comment on internal political trends in Italy.
The comment of the French President is also significant Francois hollande, who described the Professor as a politician who is anything but on the way down: "I don't know what role he will choose but I have seen him rather active, far from disarmed". A declaration that highlights how much Monti's contribution to Italy's recovery is considered a fundamental asset also for the continuity of reforms at the European level.
The choice not to comment on internal political dynamics was also made by the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, who in an interview with Sky TG24 underlined the importance for Italy to “continue along the path of structural reforms and budgetary consolidation. The elections – said Barroso – must not be an occasion to postpone reforms”.
Today the outgoing Premier is in Oslo on the occasion of the ceremony for the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union. And it is under the banner of diplomacy and prudential tones that the numerous comments made by the agencies have followed one another. More categorical, with respect to the political prospects in Italy, she was the spokesperson for the German Ministry of Finance led by Wolfgang Schaeuble: "We expect Italy to fully respect the commitments made in Europe in the future as well, as they have been agreed, and to continue along the path of reforms already undertaken", underlining the close connection between national events and macroeconomic and financial dynamics from all over the continent, which in recent days have also shown their weight on the trend of the German economy. "We do not foresee a phase of destabilization in the Eurozone", continued the spokeswoman, implicitly emphasizing how a drift of the Belpaese from Berlin, dragged by the opportunism of the right and by growing isolationist ferments, must be responsibly averted.
The German "moral suasion" has found another authoritative megaphone through the mouth of Joerg Asmussen, member of the executive committee of the ECB, who in an interview with the newspaper "Bild" commented how the next parliamentary majority, of whatever color it is, will have to continue the reformist path within the framework of the agreements already made at a supranational level by the Berlusconi executive and above all by the Monti government, which "has done a lot in a short time, regaining investor confidence and pursuing fiscal consolidation".
The German Foreign Minister also spoke about Italy, Guido Westerwelle, who, in an interview with the weekly "Der Spiegel", stated that "Italy must not stop on the path of reforms now that it has completed two thirds of the way".
The risk that national politics will close the doors to reforms is the continent's greatest concern at the moment, since – concludes Westerwelle – “Italy, but also the whole of Europe, would fall back into a new phase of turbulence ”.
