EDITORIAL (new York Times)
Italy Chooses None of the Above
Published: February 27, 2013
Italy’s voters surprised and frightened governments and financial markets across Europe with their repudiation of austerity and much of the Italian political establishment.
Europe’s fears of an ungovernable Italy and renewed euro-zone crisis may prove justified. With no party holding a majority in the new Parliament, there is little chance for renegotiating the economic straitjacket demanded by European lenders or enacting needed reforms.
For decades, the political establishment, regardless of party, has failed to deal with Italy’s well-known problems — excessive bureaucracy, official corruption, organized crime, unequal and regressive taxes and anemic economic growth. The past 15 months of growth-crushing austerity policies under Prime Minister Mario Monti have mainly added to the pain. Italy’s borrowing costs declined (at least until the election returns came in). But recession has deepened, unemployment has risen and living standards have fallen back to the levels of the 1980s. Mr. Monti’s popularity never recovered from the deeply regressive tax he imposed on family homes.
A protest vote driven by public anger is not so surprising. The big losers were centrist supporters of Mr. Monti, who came in a dismal fourth, and the center-left Democratic Party, led by Pier Luigi Bersani, which won only a slim plurality in the lower house and ran a disappointing second in the regionally apportioned Senate. These two blocs were expected to form a coalition government with policies not very different from Mr. Monti’s. That would have pleased Europe, but is now impossible.
The winners were the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, founded just three years ago by the comedian Beppe Grillo, and the People of Liberty led by the disgraced former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Mr. Berlusconi’s slate won the largest number of Senate seats and the second largest contingent in the lower house. Mr. Berlusconi, who bears much responsibility for Italy’s economic and political dysfunction, brought his party back from near oblivion by shamelessly restyling himself as an anti-establishment, anti-austerity populist. He even promised to refund the homeownership tax, offering to dip into his personal fortune to do so.
As the top vote-getter, the Democratic Party gets the first chance to form a new government. Recognizing how tough that will be, Mr. Bersani has begun setting forth a limited legislative program that he hopes can attract support from beyond his own ranks. Mr. Grillo declared Wednesday that his supporters would not form an alliance with Mr. Bersani, or Mr. Berlusconi, who gets to try next if Mr. Bersani fails. But he did leave open the option of backing specific reform measures proposed by other parties. That is not a prescription for stable government and could force another election later this year. But it is probably the best hope for enacting at least some of the political reforms and anti-corruption laws Italy desperately needs and so many fed-up Italian voters desperately want
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