In Italy everything is fine. Families and banks have solid assets and solid are also the "fundamentals" of the economy. Anyone who claims otherwise is a pain in the ass and, as we know, speculators prevail in the markets. The recipe for reassuring the doubters? It requires patience. We will see, if ever, after the holidays.
This essentially seemed to be the message sent to the country yesterday, in one of the moments in which disorientation is at its peak, by the Prime Minister. A reluctant guide. A defending leader who, almost reluctantly, came down from the Palace to give some explanation. What is striking, in the folds of a monologue devoid of concreteness and courage, is above all the attitude of the prime minister, tired and staid. A leader who doesn't exist: he excuses himself, shrugs his shoulders, huffs in the face of criticism. In other words, he continues to move within the most classic of alibis: the conspiracy theory (the speculators, the defeatist opposition).
What will happen today, in the expected confrontation with the social partners, when it comes to moving from the tired rhetoric of the classrooms (with the game of roles, staged even yesterday, between the majority and the opposition) to the discussion on the operational field, with the main players of the economy? The signals are not the most promising. The country needs a credible leader, it has been repeated for months, perhaps for years. But what does "credible" mean, especially in light of the growing distrust of the Italian ruling class? Humble above all, therefore able to roll up his sleeves. And above all to really listen, to plan a serious and immediately operational path with companies, trade unions and social realities.
This should be the outcome of today's meeting, where the leadership, far from relating to civil society with diffidence, should finally be its expression and guide. But we are light years away from this climate of democratic harmony. As we saw yesterday too, the executive continues to barricade itself behind the economic package approved in recent weeks, as if by now, once it was on autopilot, it could close its eyes. And meanwhile, to provide a strident parody of the answers that politics is capable of in moments of urgency, as a corollary of one of the worst crises of disconnection between the Palace and the country (where the opposition has its very serious responsibilities), is the cloying drama of parliamentarians, who, goodness them, give up five weeks of vacation, to stay on vacation for only a good month.
It's an indignant sight, in which any serious executive should have a shot of pride. All the more reason, since today's meeting with the social partners, one cannot be satisfied with the media ritual of confrontation and a revived sprinkling of concertation. If this climate of August torpor also prevailed at today's appointment with the country, it would really be a great wasted opportunity. And an unforgivable void.
