Speaking at the traditional end-of-the-year press conference, Romano Prodi, our Prime Minister, said the next step for his government will be to adopt structural reforms and for these Italy needed “courage, unity and generosity…qualities which everyone must demonstrate: the majority and the opposition”.
Commenting on his coalition, which has a razor-thin majority in the Senate, Prodi observed that “we won with this majority and this majority is capable of making decisions now and in the future”.
Prodi then recalled how Winston Churchill once said that a majority of two votes means there was one extra.
Very interesting remarks, in our opinion. Actually, Mr.Prodi omits to say that in the Upper House, the Senate, his government very often bases his survival (especially in confidence votes) on senators for life, who are not elected by the people, but this is a minor detail, we guess. Mr.Prodi also likes to stress that just a one-vote lead is enough to rule. Right, we agree. But, when he was the minority leader, he always complained that the country was torn and on the brink of a “cold civil war”.
Turning his attention back to economic issues, Prodi said his government’s goals included defending the purchasing power of Italians and in order to do this it was also necessary to reduce the cost of government and rationalise government spending. Italy can expect an economic turnaround next year thanks to groundwork created by the government’s budget, Premier Romano Prodi said on Thursday.
Sure but, again, Mr.Prodi omits to say that, in order to “defend the purchasing power of Italians“, his government has significantly increased the tax burden without cutting expenses, and this will ultimately slow down the economy, the only turnaround he will deliver to Italians. He says that he wants to reform the retirement system but his closest allies, people who stubbornly call themselves communists, just want to set the retirement age back to 57 years erasing a reform, made by his predecessor, projected to make 9 billion euros of savings. Mr.Prodi talks about the making of some very important infrastructural works, like the TAV (hi-speed railway) connecting Italy to France, but the Greens and the communists are fiercely opposing it and ‘til now nothing has been done on that ground. Talking about the need to reduce the cost of government, Mr.Prodi’s cabinet consists of 106 ministers, deputy ministers and undersecretaries, a very crowded and expensive one, since he has to satisfy his 9-party coalition, where Far-Left rules.
Put shortly, Mr.Prodi is talking about a country that simply doesn’t exist. Happy New Year, Mr.Prodi, we strongly hope this is your last year as Italy’s PM.
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