Ultimamente a casa parlo solo di politica italiana, anche se diventa frustrante dover anche spiegare come funziona il sistema Italia al mio svizzerotto... Dato che non ne poteva piu' di sentirmi parlare ha deciso che voleva dire la sua. Un po' di spoiler: come un buon cittadino svizzero tende al compromesso...
enjoy
The Italian Stalemate / A Swiss perspective
First, an admission of guilt: I'm very prone to advocate the swiss model as the best in the world even though it may not be right for another state with different circumstances. It's a common mistake for someone who is happy with the way things are (well mostly) in his country.
I have always taken an interest in swiss national politics and now that I am together with an Italian, I am also following italian politics mostly through discussions with her. I find myself often asking "why" questions. Some things I just can't believe, others are just so very different that they do not work as I would assume.
Of course I've learned a lot about the way the Italian parliament and senate are assembled during the last few days. I can't help but notice that the situation is not very much different from the situation after any given election in Switzerland in the last 100 years. In Italy there are now three major coalitions, each getting between a quarter and a third of the votes. None of the coalitions is able to form a government without the help of another. There is also a similarity in the way that a government is supposed to be working: The Italian prime minister is just like the Swiss president "primus inter pares" which means the ministers are theoretically able to govern their dossier by themselves.
However here is also the major difference in the system: While the Italian ministers are allowed to govern independently of each other, they are confirmed by the parliament as one. This makes each minister responsible for what the others do. The entire executive branch is in the same boat and if one of them does too much rocking, they all go down. It is understandable that The Democratic Party refuses to govern with the People Of Liberty. After all, they would be held responsible for the acts of the others.
Now imagine for a second that Italy would elect its cabinet the Swiss way: Each member is selected independently by majority vote as well as the prime minister. First, the parties need to reach an informal consensus on how many seats in the government should go to each party. Without this consensus, no party is able to achieve the majority vote that is necessary. Imagine the three parties simply voting for their own candidates indefinitely without reaching majority. If a consensus is reached, the parties can either choose to present acceptable candidates or not. If they present unacceptable candidates, the parliament may choose someone else from the same party.
In this kind of system, the government is composed by a proportional number of ministers that were approved by the other parties and not necessarily by their own parties (as sometimes happens in Switzerland). It's the same principle as letting one person divide a piece of cake and the other person chose which piece he wants. No one really likes the government but at least it was agreed upon by 50% of the parliament.
The parties are forced to get their shit together and govern together. This would do Italy a lot of good, as no big mouthed populist (I am not calling either of those two a clown) would ever be elected minister.
Unfortunately my little utopia does not work out for two reasons:
- To change any laws, they need a government in the first place to propose a law
- The Five Star Movement is not interested in governing, so most likely any elected Minister would simply resign (or risk being cast out of the movement).
Even if Italy is running out of time and money, the Five Star Movement will not take the responsibility to govern because they know that without drastic measures, all is lost. And drastic measures is the last thing they want because Grillo promised Italy that they could have all the nice things like before, if only they exchanged the politicians. What a load of bullshit; And what a pity for Italy.
Perhaps the solution is to look at the way the Vatican elects its head of state. Lock the Italian parliament up, dock their pay and reduce their rations until they've reached a decision.
I would like to see white smoke above the Palazzo Montecitorio.
Svizzerotto
Technically there is one mistake in what you said, Svizzerotto: the Parliament can make a motion of no confidence also for a single minister. But you are saying something else a bit wrong: the 5 Stars Movement can be interested in governing, but only if they were alone at the government and voted by the other parties or no member of the other parties were in the government. The great problem of this approach is that they forget they did not get enough votes to rule by themselves, and they have little respect for the decision of the other citizens that did not choose them (around the 75% of those who voted).
RispondiEliminaThe only reason why they do not want to govern is that they would have to do it with other parties, and they would lose votes if they did it, and they also know that if the other parties make an alliance for a temporary government they would increase their votes, because they know that there are still a lot of unpopular things to do for Italy, unluckily: where is the interest for the good of Italy in all of this?
Wow Steve, stai proprio prendendo la deformazione professionale dell'insegnante, fai paura...
EliminaOra non esagerare, Maria:) Ho solo fatto notare che tecnicamente le vie per non tornare alle elezioni ci sono, ma semplicemente a qualcuno non interessano.
EliminaThe main problem is the lack of compromise in Italian politics: Grillo wants to govern alone and puts on the first place his agenda (elections and majority) and not the interest of the country; Democratic Party tries to be reasonable and would accept to govern with Grillo. Berlusconi we all know what he wants (power&pussy).
RispondiEliminaNow the biggest risk is that PD accepts a government with Berlusconi or another technocratic government which would lead to new elections and majority to Grillo who then should deliver the promises. So it is a lose-lose situation.
Unfortunately it seems that Italians lack the art of compromise that works in Switzerland and they prefer to have a Leader.
Dear Svizzerotto, there once was the "Manuale Cencelli", a series of guidelines created by a person in the so called "First Republic" of Italy. He was an exponent of the "Christian Democracy" party, who ruled for many years before our generation had the right ot vote. It advocated what you are suggesting through a series of formulas, giving to each party a set number of governing roles based on the votes collected in the elections.
RispondiEliminaThis method was subsequently stigmatized after the "First Republic" was torn to pieces by scandals of corruption. Then rose the idea that corruption was a by-product of our fragmented system with the many parties, and so was the "Manuale Cencelli".
After that, the main goal was "bipolarismo", that to ensure governability our system should convert itself to one with two big parties, like in the US.
In my opinion, the last 20 years have proven that this strategy does not suit our system, nor ensures governability. This is partly due to the bad electoral law(s), but I think most of it is intrinsic to our system. I totally agree with Zurota, the problem is the lack of compromise. 20 years of Silvio have also reinforced the notion of the one-man-saves-all. Italian still wants to vote for a Leader and nobody could have won these election without a bit of populism, as the mediocre result of PD proves.
So, beside the present not-so-trivial issue of coming up with a government, I think the last hope for Italy is that this M5S proves to be really what it claim to be: a platform, there Grillo catalizes the populist desires of our population, while the people are given the right to speak, again, through the institutional channels. But then it will be up to the people to prove that they`ve really graduated from soccer-type partying for one side or the other and that they are able to let go of the god-like leader when it`s not needed anymore.
I strongly doubt that this will work out. But I don`t see another way out. Or rather, I do see it, but I am very scared by it. A radical change in the global attitude toward governing, a new discovery of solidariety, of cooperation, of striving toward a common goal. These are feelings that I`ve seen strengthened only in countries with extreme hardships, such as after widely destructive events like recessions, revolutions or wars.
Stefano, M5S is a perfect example of the "soccer-type" partying, for which all the people of other parties are criminal or inadequate. If they were to change their attitude I would be the first one to be happy about it, but it does not look like they will, at least at the moment.
EliminaSecondly, the left-right division in politics will always be present, what has to change is just that all the politicians should remember that there are some topics (e.g., school, institutional reforms) that should not depend on who is ruling at the moment, but should be faced with a larger consensus.
So far it looks exactly like you described, but let's wait a bit longer to finalize the judgement.
EliminaI agree on the existence of left and right, but I don't see it as necessarily binomial. At the very least, in Italy we have to put in the picture the non eradicable catholic center.
For the rest I totally agree.
In fact I wrote "at the moment": politics are in fact, no sarcasm about it from me, the art of possible.
EliminaI actually think that since 20 years the right slowly died in Italy, since Berlusconi is not right. He is using the typical right populist arguments to get the votes from the right. I would see as right Monti for example, not PDL.
RispondiEliminaThus I think Berlusconi started this process of not having a left or a right and this is the substrate over which Grillo could rise. If we had a real right, with which you could argue and speak we would not be in this situation.
Like usually, Berlusconi is guilty... but, like usually, I say that the guilty ones are the italians since he is just the reflection of italian populist mentality.