The ANNOTICO Report
It's been said that making Legislation, or for that fact
the Governing
process is like making sausage. It's Not something that
is attractive to
watch.
It seems to get really messy when as in the US, the Presidency
changes from
one party to the other, and an ENTIRE Executive Branch
"turns over", and
the previous Administrations Rules and Regulations likewise
are rescinded.
It is turmoil !!
Likewise, when the Majority in the Senate and House change,
there are
changing of Committee Chairmanships and majorities, and
some seats, and
lots of staff. More Turmoil !!
In Italy, instead of the WILD SWINGS, and Great Turmoil,
there are
fracturing of some Party Alliances, Negotiations, Realignment
of Allies, A
Few Changes in Minister Portfolios, a Revision of Some
Objectives.
A Slight Change of Direction, Not Turmoil.
Much Change, But Usually Almost MORE of the Same.
Which makes MORE Sense. The "Wild West" US Method,or the
"Moderate" Italian
Way?
IN BERLUSCONI CABINET, IT'S MORE OF THE SAME
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's new cabinet, sworn
in over the weekend,
includes most of the same faces that left office last
week as his governing
coalition splintered - prompting some analysts on both
the right and left
to predict on Sunday that its days would be numbered.
Seventeen ministers of the 24-member cabinet announced
Saturday were
reconfirmed and another two switched posts. A 25th ministry
- for
Territorial Development and Cohesion - was added.
The swearing-in ceremony at the presidential palace on
Saturday, which
observers described as unusually subdued, was unavoidably
reminiscent of
déjà vu Italian politics.
The former economy minister, Giulio Tremonti, removed
from the cabinet
after a dispute with former political allies last year,
returned as one of
two deputy prime ministers.
Rocco Buttiglione, the departing minister of European
affairs, was given
the Culture Ministry job after being snubbed for a European
Union post last
autumn because of his conservative views. Claudio Scajola,
who was forced
to resign two years ago after a political gaffe, was
appointed industry
minister after a stint in a minor ministerial post.
The new government will face a vote of confidence this
week in Parliament,
where it has a majority in both chambers, and it is likely
to be approved,
bringing the curtain down on one act in a political drama
that erupted this
month after the center-right took a beating in local
elections.
After losing 12 of 14 regional races Berlusconi's allies
- the centrist
Union of Christian Democrats and the far rightist National
Alliance -
forced the prime minister to resign, closing down Italy's
longest-serving
government since 1946.
Rather than face new elections one year ahead of schedule,
the prime
minister reshuffled his cabinet and pledged to shift
the focus of his
policies for the duration of his term. The new program,
he said, will
support businesses, defend the purchasing power of families,
and encourage
job creation in Italy's economically depressed south.
With so many of the same players in place, some commentators
mocked the
government reshuffle.
"It was an operetta, bad music played and sung by second-rate
actors,"
wrote Eugenio Scalfari in the leftist Rome daily La Repubblica,
on Sunday.
"It was an operetta that became a comedy."
And with so little altered, even some rightist commentators
were skeptical
that the government would be able to last long. Writing
in the conservative
daily Libero, Vittorio Feltri predicted a six-month life
span before the
government would be shot down by its centrist allies.
"The future of this
government seems marked," Feltri said.
The Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported on Sunday
that during the
first cabinet meeting, held after the swearing-in ceremony,
a dispute took
place between Labor Minister Roberto Maroni of the Northern
League and the
newly appointed territorial development and cohesion
minister, Gianfranco
Miccichè, over who would be responsible for the economic
development of the
south.
"We haven't gotten to the vote of confidence yet and already
the government
is experiencing the same tensions that led to a crisis,"
Fausto Bertinotti,
the leader of the hard-line Refounded Communists, said
Sunday, according to
the news agency ANSA.