The continuity of Palazzo Chigi is a strategic resource: historical data demonstrate that the end of the crises guarantees Italy greater international authority and long-term reforms.
Now even stability has become a fault. Giorgia Meloni she is rightly proud of the duration of her government. For the first time in republican history, the executive chaired by you is about to conclude its legislature. The prime minister chosen by Italians, with the September vote four years ago, will be the same one who will stand in the elections asking citizens to judge her actions. A real novelty. But not everyone likes it. In fact, according to some, stability would be synonymous with immobility. It is the unpleasant and offensive reproach he addressed to the Prime Minister Massimo Giannini. On 7, in the program hosted by Giovanni Floristhe editorialist of La Repubblica compared the longevity of the government to that of a disabled person: «If a person spends twenty years immobile in a wheelchair, without doing anything, it is useless for him to have lived long. The same thing goes for the government.” The reprehensible sentence has sparked a wave of controversy, not only for the critical judgment towards the executive’s actions, but for the definition of a useless life for those who are forced into immobility. In the end, Giannini was forced to apologise, saying he had not been understood, but reiterating his consideration about the inertia of Palazzo Chigi.
The same concept, albeit in a more detailed way, has been expressed by others, including Ernesto Maria Ruffinia new entry in the political landscape of the left. A lawyer by profession, with solid expertise in tax matters, Ruffini is the former director of the Revenue Agency as well as the son of Attilio, former Christian Democrat minister in the years of the so-called First Republic. For a few months now, having left his post as tax collector, he has had it in his head to found a sort of new DC, or rather to create a centrist grouping that will come to the aid of the left. That the stage in that political area is already crowded doesn’t seem to worry him.
Clash over the longevity of Palazzo Chigi: is stability really a limit?
The movement he founded, “Più uno”, aims to bring together the reformist and moderate area alongside the Democratic Party, bringing together various bushes. The project is challenging, because it has to deal with people of the caliber of Matteo Renzi, Carlo Calenda, Silvia Salis, Alessandro Onoratoprima donnas used to taking center stage and, above all, bringing together not only their forces but also their divisions. And that’s exactly the point. With an article in Fatto Daily, Ernesto Maria Ruffini accuses the longest government in history of not guaranteeing a vision of the country’s future: «Once upon a time, the duration of executives did not represent the daily obsession of public debate. Politics, in fact, was not measured by the number of days spent at Palazzo Chigi, but by the ability to change the country and build the future.”
And, to support his thesis, the former head of tax collection (a position assigned to him by Matteo Renzi when he was in government) explains that between 1948 and 1988 Italy had 43 governments, with an average of one every 11 months. Yet, he claims, that period experienced one of the most profound economic and social transformations in national history, building the foundations of the social state and welfare. However, he forgets to mention that Italy was emerging from a war and that the Americans contributed to growth with the Marshall Plan. But above all it forgets that the governments of the time, in addition to rebuilding the country, created the conditions for one of the largest debts in the world, with measures such as baby pensions or the escalator.
The political past and stable international relations
Does Ruffini express nostalgia for the past, or rather for seaside governments? I understand it. His father was a protagonist of that season. As a DC parliamentarian he was minister from 1976 to 1980, four years in which he managed to have as many roles – with delegation to the merchant navy, transport, foreign affairs and defence. In one case, he held the role for less than four months, from January 14 to April 4. The government was led by Francesco Cossiga and Ruffini’s father was at the Farnesina.
I wonder: what did the heads of state of other countries think of a minister whose surname they couldn’t even learn? It would have been possible to build a special relationship like the one recently inaugurated by Giorgia Meloni with Narendra ModiPrime Minister of India? Probably not, just as it would have been impossible to sign commercial agreements worth 20 billion with New Delhi.
No, stability is not a fault but a value. It is an image of seriousness that is given to the world. Then I understand that for Ruffini, and for those like him, instability is an advantage. The more governments are beachy, the more there are those who profit from it, because they make their vote count and bargain for a seat. It is the system that brought Italy to the brink of the abyss.
