To seize the seeds of recovery, Italy must work seriously to lighten the public debt burden, for this we need continuity of government, but Europe must also do its part and change its policy, for the good of the continent and of the its currency.
Romano Prodi is convinced of this and, after 19 years, he is returning to a Nomisma conference entitled "How to awaken Italy from a coma?", with the former director of the Economist Bill Emmott and Sergio Rizzo of the Corriere della Sera.
“When we made the agreement on the euro – recalls the former prime minister – we agreed on the fact that there were subsequent steps to take, that it would take time, but that these steps were indispensable. Then the situation changed and everything stopped, now we have to change gears, to give back to the currency and to Europe the role they deserve. We're throwing this opportunity away."
Italy alone cannot beat its fists on the table of the Union, but must seek a convergence with France and Spain, to push Germany towards a new perspective. “No one is growing right now, not even the Germans and Germany is a country with a 7% trade balance of payments surplus, you need to invest.” Unfortunately, however, the entire continent is held in check by permanent political instability, the result of continuous electoral checks. “I am obviously in favor of the elections, but this constant uncertainty damages us. The Chinese, who can plan their future for ten years, seem to change nothing and instead change everything, to put it the other way around by the Leopard. We are at a standstill."
Instability that in Italy reaches the nth power, with governments that succeed one another. “While a job that lasts over time is needed to revive the economy, we have to make ants”. Should the Renzi government last then? “I hope so – replies the professor – but the Letta government was also fine”. Will the new Prime Minister arrive at the end of the term? "If things go well, the Renzi government will certainly last until 2018, but the problem is: if things go well, because it's not that we're in good shape, there are many commitments both in Italy and in Europe".
To explain what the "ant" policy represents, Prodi recalls his first government: "the stability we offered gave confidence and tax revenues increased, because the Italians believed in it and paid taxes. In my second government it was no longer the case".
The very sick, the sleeping beauty, in short, Italy needs continuity more than electric shocks, seriousness rather than coup de theatre: “The problem of our ruling class is not that of individuals. Taken by themselves they are excellent individuals, but we don't need geniuses, rather coherent, forward-looking people who are capable of building a team around themselves". While much seems to go in a different direction, even the way in which the political proposal is offered by the media, in televised debates whose only result "is for people to say, this won, that won, instead of looking at the substance of things" .
In any case, Europe and the euro must remain on our horizon: “I still believe in it and I'm concerned about a certain German publication that values Germany's non-EU exports. I don't want anyone to start thinking that she can go alone…”.
Is the former prime minister's political future at Colle? “No, as they say, the game is over, the race is over: they are all young, all new, so one must understand when one's time is and when one's time has passed”.
