Early elections are getting closer and closer. This morning went on stage a very tough clash between the PDL and the Monti government, with the Pd that suggested to the Premier to put the mandate back. The main scene took place in the Senate, which gave the go-ahead to trust in the maxi-amendment to the development-bis decree with 127 yes, 17 no and 23 abstentions. Numbers that allow the majority to hold, but which at the same time send a very clear political signal. There were just 167 voters out of a total of 315 senators and this means that the quorum was reached with difficulty. It was the senators of the PDL who rowed against the Executive, many of whom left the Chamber in order not to participate in the vote.
"If the main party of the strange majority that supports Monti does not vote for confidence and does so irresponsibly, in a very delicate moment for the country - he commented Anna Finocchiaro, Pd group leader at Palazzo Madama - means that the government no longer has a majority. What happens in these cases? I think Monti should go to the Quirinale".
Immediate the reflection on the markets: the spread flew to 320 basis points, while Business Square he turned negative, losing more than one point. Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers is underway and the legislative decree on the ineligibility of convicts is also on the agenda.
Today's tussle in the Senate was preceded by an exchange of broadsides between Silvio Berlusconi and Corrado Passera. This morning, as a guest of the television show Agorà, the Minister of Economic Development openly criticized the hypothesis of yet another return to the field of the Cavaliere, who yesterday evening had announced wanting to run for the sixth time at Palazzo Chigi.
"Any signal that suggests abroad that Italy is going backwards rather than making progress is counterproductive – said Passera -. I cannot go into the dynamics of individual parties, but like Italy we must give the feeling that the country is moving forward. Anything that can make the rest of the world, our partners, imagine that we are going backwards is not good for Italy”.
The minister then replied directly to the words of Berlusconi, who had justified his possible re-nomination with the desire to remedy the mistakes of the Monti government. According to the Knight, in the last year the Professor's team has only worsened the conditions of the country, throwing Italy into the "abyss".
“It is a very non-objective representation – continued Passera -. We all know that many things that President Berlusconi mentioned in his list come from ten years of mismanagement of this country. A year ago we were very close to slipping towards the Greek situation, which could have resulted in a loss of sovereignty. We would have been administering ourselves from outside, they would have cut essential services such as health, education, salaries and pensions ".
Then the minister increased the dose again: “Let's look at where we were ten years ago: at 100% in the ratio between debt and GDP, while now we are at over 120%. We have thrown away the benefit of the euro, of privatizations, we have stopped investing and reduced savings, and there is an unease on the employment front that is even worse than it appears”.
