The ANNOTICO Report

Dan Simpson, a retired diplomat, and a member of the editorial boards of
The Blade and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is very taken with Italy.

Starting with it's site of the Vatican, and the Pope, leader of 1 billion
Catholics world wide..

And the many young people who come for the religious events fall under the
romantic influence of Rome in the spring.

The current political drama roiling Europe is the question of countries
ratifying the new European Union constitution.Watching the French approach
is the political equivalent of watching the last few minutes of a close
football game.French rejection would stall the whole process.
On the other hand, the Italians, no less interested in what the
constitution means for them than the French are, rolled it through both
houses of the Italian parliament with no strain or pain.

Italy has always been at the very center of European developments,
sometimes, unfortunately, as a battleground, more often as the political,
economic, and cultural center of the continent.

Rome Civilized Europe. The Renaissance Refined it.
Five of eight of Europe's oldest universities are in Italy.
Italy had universal male suffrage before the United Kingdom.

And as usual Italy will deal with the current political roil with its usual
aplomb, and almost delight.

Toledo Blade
Dan Simpson
Op/Ed
Wednesday, April 20, 2005

THE unsung hero of the whole drama of papal death and succession that has
enthralled the world for weeks is Italy.

That country has hosted the millions who came to pay homage to Pope John
Paul II as he lay dying and then in state and continued to play that
essential role as the world waited for the signal that the Roman Catholic
Church had a new pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, who has taken
the name Benedict XVI.

Rome and Italy have played their role as a hospitable, sympathetic stage
for this drama with dignity and aplomb throughout, even as the many young
people who come for the religious events fall under the romantic influence
of Rome in the spring.

Italy's relationship with the pope and the Vatican has always been
complicated. On the one hand, Italy is a profoundly Catholic country. On
the other hand, in recent centuries temporal governments in Italy have been
very sensitive to any expression of political sentiment on the part of
succeeding popes.

Pope John Paul II was categorically opposed to the Iraq war. Italian Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi took Italy right into it in 2003, alongside the
United States, without major Italian political opposition. About 3,300
Italian troops remain in Iraq. Now 70 percent of the Italian population is
opposed to further participation in the war. That issue ranked with the
economy in the sound trouncing Mr. Berlusconi's coalition suffered in
elections earlier this month.

Many Italians would have liked to see an Italian pope succeed John Paul II,
returning to the pattern that has prevailed through virtually all the
history of the church. But Italy itself steams along, in many ways a
perfect truly European country, in spite of the apparent turmoil that
sometimes characterizes its internal politics. The current political drama
roiling Europe is the question of countries ratifying the new European
Union constitution. For those who wish to see the constitution ratified,
watching the French approach a referendum on that subject scheduled for May
29 is the political equivalent of watching the last few minutes of a close
football game.

French President Jacques Chirac is campaigning very actively, virtually
putting his presidency on the line for a "yes" vote. There is unholy terror
in Europe that French voters may choose the referendum as the occasion to
administer a public drubbing to the unpopular French government headed by
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The problem is that all 25 EU members
must ratify the constitution for it to go into effect. French rejection
would stall the whole process.

On the other hand, the Italians, no less interested in what the
constitution means for them than the French are, rolled it through both
houses of the Italian parliament with no strain or pain. Countries can
choose to ratify either through parliamentary action or referendum.

Italy has always been at the very center of European developments,
sometimes, unfortunately, as a battleground, more often as the political,
economic, and cultural center of the continent. The father of modern Italy,
Giuseppe Mazzini, founded "Young Italy," which led to the unification and
independence of the Italian state. Five of eight of Europe's oldest
universities are in Italy. Italy had universal male suffrage before the
United Kingdom.

Italy's contemporary politics are in their habitual muddle, although the
moderate right, larger-than-life political and media mogul Berlusconi has
been center-stage, off and on, since 1993. The next question is whether his
coalition's electoral loss in 11 of 13 regions this month will push him to
move up elections from their required date in 2006. Tax cuts haven't helped
him; withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq might.

An invitation to address the Dante Alighieri Society, a scholarly group of
Italians and Italian-Americans in Pittsburgh, sent me off to research Italy
to prepare for the talk.

Marcus Aurelius judged Christian fanaticism to be a danger to the future of
the Roman state in the second century. Rome had become obsessed with its
security by the third. By the fifth, civilian authority over the military
had slipped substantially and the demands of the military for the resources
of the state had become irresistible. By the end of that century, the Roman
Empire was gone.

The cardinals have now chosen a German to succeed a Pole as pope - a
European, but not an Italian. Yet Italy, as the core of Europe, will
prevail.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/20050420/OPINION04/
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