Much ado about nothing? The government goes the budget adjustment cuts 7,5 billion and shows up in Brussels with the books in order; the Commission recommends to Ecofin to close the infringement procedure; the spread collapses, together with interest rates on BTPs; the deficit is within the agreed limits with the EU on the occasion of the 2019 budget law. There will be no war with the European institutionsalso because the new ones (we have already seen and appreciated the agreements for the most important positions) will maintain a line of substantial continuity with those who are ending their mandate. The Union's policy remains the same because – we had already noticed this in the case of Greece – there is no other policy.
Our country, cornered, returns to the rules, as it had already done in the autumn of 2018 after the festive performances and toasts from the balcony: It has done it again in these hours after a series of rash, outrageous and arrogant statements by the two majority condominiums with a frequency and obstinacy that, at the turn of the European elections, saw the sides reverse in comedy with Captain Matteo Salvini becoming the main protagonist of the anti-EU campaign. So much so that Luigi Di Maio thought it appropriate to publicly congratulate Giuseppe Conte on how he conducted the negotiations with Brussels.
Silence of Captain still involved in the Sea Watch affair, grappling with the GIP who proved him wrong. We all know that Salvini's League has almost doubled its votes in a year (to the detriment of its ally) and that the polls show it is still growing. When the Minister of Police, wearing the admiral's uniform, manages to thwart an invasion of migrants and raises his voice against a young "baughty" and a few dozen refugees who have not managed to land on the sly, the consensus rate soars, because in Italy "pity is dead".
But I'd be curious to know what they think of a conductor that the spear remaining against 3% constraint and considers it not only his right, but his duty to overcome it; who – along the way – authorizes his janissaries to touting the minibots (winking at a restoration of monetary sovereignty); That announces glaring and indispensable tax cuts, through the introduction of the flat tax, without posing the problem of sterilizing the VAT increase as required by law, starting from 1 January next year (remember? After the European elections, according to Salvini, no one would have demanded the increase in VAT, because the sovereigns would have conquered the EU). Then, when the time comes to take it all back, the "defender" of the sacredness of borders gets away with deserting the meeting of the Council of Ministers which draws up the act of surrender.
In recent weeks, the regime's minions have dominated television talk shows, exposing Italy's "enemies" to popular ridicule - starting with Pierre Moscovici - who demanded compliance with the commitments we freely assumed (to which the government eventually joined). His acolytes will have noticed that the Captain won a battle in his country, but lost the war in Europe? The air blowing in Brussels and Strasbourg is always the same, even if it has become a bit stinky due to the odors emanating from the super-populists. And it will still be the same in the autumn, when the government will have to put the 2020 budget bill on paper.
The most pathetic aspect of the last skirmish with the EU was its uselessness. Giovanni Tria (with the support of Conte, who is proving to be a person of common sense) had proposed the solution which was arrived at even before the rattling of the sabers began. The threat of the procedure would not even have been imagined; on the other hand, openness has become necessary precisely to reject the provocations coming from Italy, starting with the quadrille that the government danced around the letter from the MEF.
But there is no limit to the worst: the absence of the two deputy prime ministers from the Council of Ministers on budget adjustment was a clear attempt (albeit absurd) to delegitimize that decision and to keep your hands free. By now, ours is a theocratic republic, in the hands of the two ayatollahs guardians of the revolution, who claim to have the last word.
