Europe's weakness is the lack of leadership. Romano Prodi is convinced of this, who today in Bologna, on the occasion of a preparatory meeting for the three-year plan for the production activities of the Emilia-Romagna Region, mainly pointed the finger at the Deutsche Bank, which in recent months "has sold 7 billion Italian government bonds".
"It is a shocking fact - says Prodi - it represents the end of all solidarity and it is particularly bitter that it comes from Germany, the country that expressed the most wisdom and ability to understand others until a few years ago". Prodi returns to this point several times, to highlight the enormity of the figure and its weight: “Actions of this type have serious consequences and express a suicidal vision of Europe. If we continue like this, it becomes impossible to get out of the situation we are in. At this moment we are essentially paying one more financial loan, only in interest rates. Not having a sense of this means not having a sense of responsibility, not having a sense of leadership”.
The fact that Europe takes measures when it reaches the edge of the abyss is not very reassuring, because in the meantime precious time is lost and the problems are amplified, as happened with Greece. “Once in Europe – says Prodi – there was a two-piston engine, France offered the political guarantee; Germany the economic one. Today Germany no longer needs France and a fiction is being implemented. Each summit is preceded by a Franco-German meeting which has the result of angering the other 25. In the end, 'she' dictates the path and 'he' gives the press conference. Europe proceeds only at the last minute when tragedy looms”.
In this context, there would be room for Italy, both in an action with France and in the Middle East, but there is a worrying immobility. In this context, reforms, for example, such as that of the monetary system, are impossible. “The United States and China – he underlines – have no interest in carrying out this type of reform. The former print money and have been living beyond their means for more than a generation, China is in no hurry, so in three to four years it will be able to do so anyway. Instead, for lack of European politics we are at the logical absurdity, at the paradox of a euro under accusation that grows, while the other currencies decrease. Europe is the number one industrial power in the world, has the highest GDP in the world and the largest export share in the world. The real China in the world is Germany, yet we find ourselves like this".
For Italy there remains the need to improve the services front, especially tourism, to create a national network for innovation, to improve the image of the country system and training. “A packaging machine that says made in Germany costs 20% more. How do you compete? We need to support the country's image, we need politics. Germany has two major research institutes that we could copy, one for theoretical research and the other for applied research, both of which are present in all regions. Finally, we need to re-evaluate the image of the technical school and not let the best students go to merchant banks. Is it possible that in Italy the only thing that costs little are engineers?”.
