Italy has set an absolute European record: it is forming its fifty-eighth postwar government. The resignation of the Center Left cabinet headed by former Communist Massimo D’Alema is being associated with the return to national politics of television mogul Silvio Berlusconi, winner in provincial elections. The new Center Left Italian government headed by Giuliano Amato, Minister of Finance in the D’Alema cabinet, intends to weather the storm and exist until the end of its mandate with the new parliamentary elections in 2001, if, of course, it gets the support of a shaky parliamentary majority. Mr. Berlusconi, who was one of the most scandalous Italian premiers (he was forced to resign following accusations of corruption and abuse of power), promises to do his best to foil this and predicts fiasco for the referendum on election law amendments, scheduled for May 21. An utterly commonplace purely Italian political situation!
However, all this raises many questions. First, Italy, never distinguished for special internal stability, has been playing up to now an important role in the triumphal march of West European Center Left forces, while Mr. D’Alema personified the example that even a Communist Party can successfully reform itself. In fairness, we must admit that his government achieved some successes, such as steady economic growth, reducing the deficit, etc.
But Mr. Berlusconi’s offensive on all fronts, especially by means of the media he controls, has had a greater impact on the man in the street. If Berlusconi manages to show equally successful results in next year’s parliamentary elections, this will also launch a counteroffensive of the Right in other West European countries, first of all in France and Great Britain. The difference is that, while the British Conservatives and French Gaullists are considered respectable political forces, Mr. Berlusconi heads a purely pie-in-the-sky bloc.
Secondly, Europe never learned the lesson from Austria. The hysterical stir concerning Haider’s Freedom Party only enhances its popularity in the West. Mr. Haider is already drawing open applause in Germany (of course, politicians are pronouncing other assessments). It is obvious that his views such as those he aired in a recent statement, “Europe should not be a French colony,” can do well in both West and East. Should Haider find support in the person of Berlusconi, it is absolutely not ruled out that this will look like a quite dangerous tendency. It should be noted here that Mr. Haider has so far expressed nothing fundamentally new: all he has said was used long ago in the Realpolitik of other Western states. It looks like it is not Haider or Berlusconi but Western society itself that does not want to part with immigration quotas, national seclusion, and elements of pure chauvinism. The Left march never managed to overcome this illness, so deeply seated in the minds of many, especially the older generation.
Thirdly, the demagogues have come out on the big political stage not in the least thanks to the absence of bright personalities, strong and independent political figures, in the camps of European Left and Right alike. Charles De Gaulle, Margaret Thatcher, Francois Mitterand, and Helmut Kohl (in spite of latest scandals touching him) are now part of history, while today’s Western Europe is increasingly becoming a vaguely standardized entity with an unclear future. Obviously, Italian — and not only Italian — society is disgruntled to some extent with this also.
Of course, one must always take into account that there is a big difference between pre-election promises and real actions. And no Western country can possibly have such a difference between the Left and Right as the post-Soviet theater has. This was just another warning to Western Europe, which could threaten and even thwart its further plans.
