My first post concentrated on the problem, my second on some possible solutions, so what could my third post be about? To be honest I was left wondering for some time what the hell it was I was meant to write. So I reverted to twitter and asked two Italian friends what they thought the article should be, and one answer came out "what does the technocratic government mean for Italy today and for the future?"
The hope of a nation and the markets
In Italy, when something goes wrong they say "chiamo il tecnico" (I'll call in the technician). Well, Italy now has 20 + of them to fix what has gone wrong!
Mario Monti finds himself in perhaps one of the most unusual positions that a technocratic leader could be in. On one hand he finds his appointment coming from the money markets (seeking confidence in the nation) and in this bloggers opinion, Germany, who, lets face it are bossing everyone around as if they did win a war some 60 years ago. National slating aside, it really doesn't sit well with a lot of people that the ECB, which is propping up Europe, has allowed Germany so much control over it's actions, because as you can appreciate this is the European Union and not "Germany's pals round for a dinner party."
The second thing that Monti has to do is regain the respect of the Italian people, pushing party politics from any party aside and push through major reforms - which he will inevitably require party politics - to do so. Actually I would say that should be the first thing but the power of the markets exceeds that of national pride.
And it's also a strange situation for Italy. Italians like their political gesturing, it is engrained in the way they discuss it openly in bars and around the dinner table. It isn't a taboo subject, everyone has an opinion, everyone discusses/argues it, for such a divided nation, and such a dividing topic it actually brings a lot of Italians closer.
Today's Italy
As I previously said, the thing missing from Italy right now is, hope. Everyone I speak to, all they see is a future of tough times ahead and no viable solution out of it. They feel that politicians which have been widely responsible for the downfall, don't care about them and that their best option is to leave their nation and search for work elsewhere.
Monti and his technicolour dream coat...sorry, technocratic government, have to really excavate from the bad that has happened, and would further happen and quickly establish themselves as the guys to trust. They need to play a political game of "we wanted to do x, y, z, but the parties stopped us from doing it." It's not pretty but they need to place the onus on fixing the issue and pushing back on self-loving politicians and try to keep them at arms length.
Tomorrow's Italy
The Full Monti (yet again, sorry) could only really happen if he was allowed to do his job for the full parliamentary mandate lasting to 2013 (and I would argue beyond). By then, if he has passed the necessary political and fiscal reforms, then Italy could be on track to regaining growth and investors seeing it as a comfortable place to pump money into rather than a strategic inconvenience.
By placing the confidence into the market, and hopefully investment into infrastructure and national development, Italy's natural resources, and competitive advantage bases should start to take over. Let's face it, it's called a technocratic government for precisely that reason - you are bringing in so called "experts" to fix and PROMOTE the nation.
Final thoughts Look, Italy is the nation that brought about the Renaissance, one which shows warmth to visitors and holds a natural beauty second to none.
It's flamboyant and stylish, eccentric and soave. It's bred the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and FIAT. It's the inventor of the pizza, saltimbocca and lasagna. It's given you the fashion houses of Versace, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino. It's given football a meaning of the word "defence" and flamboyant sports talents from motorsport to swimming. Writers like Dante, Virgilio, Orazio etc... And the list goes on and on and on.
What is Italy? Italy is a country that knows how to face adversity, after all it is shaped like a boot, it's not the most efficient but by god it does it with style.
The hope of a nation and the markets
In Italy, when something goes wrong they say "chiamo il tecnico" (I'll call in the technician). Well, Italy now has 20 + of them to fix what has gone wrong!
The second thing that Monti has to do is regain the respect of the Italian people, pushing party politics from any party aside and push through major reforms - which he will inevitably require party politics - to do so. Actually I would say that should be the first thing but the power of the markets exceeds that of national pride.
And it's also a strange situation for Italy. Italians like their political gesturing, it is engrained in the way they discuss it openly in bars and around the dinner table. It isn't a taboo subject, everyone has an opinion, everyone discusses/argues it, for such a divided nation, and such a dividing topic it actually brings a lot of Italians closer.
Today's Italy
As I previously said, the thing missing from Italy right now is, hope. Everyone I speak to, all they see is a future of tough times ahead and no viable solution out of it. They feel that politicians which have been widely responsible for the downfall, don't care about them and that their best option is to leave their nation and search for work elsewhere.
Monti and his technicolour dream coat...sorry, technocratic government, have to really excavate from the bad that has happened, and would further happen and quickly establish themselves as the guys to trust. They need to play a political game of "we wanted to do x, y, z, but the parties stopped us from doing it." It's not pretty but they need to place the onus on fixing the issue and pushing back on self-loving politicians and try to keep them at arms length.
Tomorrow's Italy
The Full Monti (yet again, sorry) could only really happen if he was allowed to do his job for the full parliamentary mandate lasting to 2013 (and I would argue beyond). By then, if he has passed the necessary political and fiscal reforms, then Italy could be on track to regaining growth and investors seeing it as a comfortable place to pump money into rather than a strategic inconvenience.
By placing the confidence into the market, and hopefully investment into infrastructure and national development, Italy's natural resources, and competitive advantage bases should start to take over. Let's face it, it's called a technocratic government for precisely that reason - you are bringing in so called "experts" to fix and PROMOTE the nation.
Final thoughts Look, Italy is the nation that brought about the Renaissance, one which shows warmth to visitors and holds a natural beauty second to none.
It's flamboyant and stylish, eccentric and soave. It's bred the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and FIAT. It's the inventor of the pizza, saltimbocca and lasagna. It's given you the fashion houses of Versace, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino. It's given football a meaning of the word "defence" and flamboyant sports talents from motorsport to swimming. Writers like Dante, Virgilio, Orazio etc... And the list goes on and on and on.
What is Italy? Italy is a country that knows how to face adversity, after all it is shaped like a boot, it's not the most efficient but by god it does it with style.
4 comments → Italy's woes and future hopes...Part Three
Good to see a young mind tackling this issue.
It is so frustrating to watch this crisis unfold. Excuse my little vent here but I have to let this out.... Germany is shitting all over the periphery countries. Eurobonds is a possible solution but of course they oppose it along with every other solution that has been presented. They either have to make it work or the euro is doomed.
Keep up the good work Gino.
Thanks for your feedback Frank. I too feel that Germany is bossing everyone around like its no-ones business, but we also have to be weary of the money markets. Berlusconi's demise came not from all the scandals etc, it came from the markets not having confidence in him...this is a new form of democracy which doesn't sit pretty in honesty.
Please feel free to vent, after all they are your opinions, it's nice to see people expressing themselves :)
It does not sit pretty, I would argue it does not sit at all. There is not much that is democratic about what has happened in Europe, particularly in Italy and Greece. At least in Spain they had a vote, yet, not even that has seemed to quell the markets. Perhaps the markets will keep causing trouble until all the afflicted nations are ruled by technocrats with a history linked to Goldman Sachs.
The money markets need to be regulated, IMO, otherwise we can kiss the nation-state goodbye.
Argh..it is all so very frustrating, but, happy to have found a place to vent. Grazie.
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