Following politics here in Italy is only for those who are paying close attention. The ever-shifting sands of political parties and alliances is one of the features which makes the system so different from that in the UK. At home we have had Tories and Whigs since the late 17th Century and even modern Conservatives from the 1830s, Liberals from 1859 and the relatively ‘recent’ Labour Party since 1900. Where parties sit in parliament is crucial for our adversarial system to work. Hence the dismay if a cross-bencher speaks from the wrong bench and the subtle if rare shifts around the chamber of those who wish to distance themselves for their own party.
Here in Italy there are more than a hundred parties, many of them regional, none of which has ever been able to form a majority government. There is an illuminating list at the following website, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Italy
However since last year’s general elections there are only 5 main parties in parliament, PDL (People of Freedom) and Lega Nord (Northern League), both part of Berlusconi’s centre right coalition, and the centre left opposition of the PD (Democratic Party) plus Italian Radicals and the Italy of Values Party. The newish leader of the opposition is the relatively untested Dario Franceschini, who seems to inspire little support. Last week the well-known Italian comic Beppe Grillo (it’s his photo) said he will seek election as head of the Democratic Party because it has lost all “hope of opposition” to Berlusconi. He criticised the opposition for lacking clear policies and said the party failed to challenge Berlusconi’s party on the environment, the U.S. military presence in Italy and the nation’s media industry.
Grillo, who is 60, (a kind of Italian Billy Connolly) uses a standup routine in which politics plays a big part. The bearded comedian has built a network of 1.6 million activists who fight for reforms such as the introduction of class-action lawsuits.To run for the leadership of the Democratic Party in the October 25 primaries, he will have to become a member of the party and present a petition signed by at least 2,000 people. With Franceschini at the helm, the party lost European parliamentary elections by 9 percentage points to Berlusconi’s party.
Berlusconi is without a major challenger. He has reordered the party scene to promote action but so far has done disappointingly little with his power to change the landscape of the Italian economy.
Baroness: From your previous post:
“The Chamber of Deputies (our House of Commons)…”
The use of the term deputies is interesting; deputy to whom?
One popular misconception about the word ‘Commons’ is that the house represents commoners or the ‘little guy’. This is not correct. The etymology of the word is not straightforward but is believed to come from the French word ‘communes’ or communities.
Should we rename the Commons as the House of Communities?
One can only suppose that the French revolution and especially Bonaparte imparted such fear into the British establishment that a ‘House of Communes’ would have been out of the question?
Perhaps in an Italian context the word adversarial in an English Parliament should be replaced with gladiatorial. One can imagine the leaders (one with Trident) dressed in gladiator attire knocking seven bells out of each other in an amphitheatre. The public would love it! Fortunately, the closest thing we have is Prime Minister’s Question time, every Wednesday at noon when Parliament is sitting.
The sad thing about the Commons is that it does represent communities. The ‘deputies’ however have very little negotiating power with their executives. For all of its shortcomings the Italian model does seem to give deputies some say in what goes on so that people perceive fair power sharing.
Perhaps one day you will get to meet Berlusconi. By applying some subtle but liberal psychoanalysis, he would enjoy that, one might conclude that he is just Jung at heart?
Senex, I fear I’m not quite the model of girl Berlusconi had in mind when he said last week the world was full of pretty women it was hard to ignore but actually of course it would be interesting to meet him. I was thinking about trying to meet one of our local senators next visit to talk about the system here.
My etymology online dictionary says ‘deputies’ is used in House of Deputies to mean ‘one who is deputed’ that is one who is assigned power on behalf of a group, the voters, rather than on behalf of an individual. Interestingly the Italian word for an MP is ‘onerevole’ the same word as ‘honourable’.
Actually the shape of the Italian assembly chamber for the House of Deputies is just like an amphitheatre and sometimes the temperature gets so heated it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they all got up and began gladiatorial contest. They never seem quite as appallingly rude as our Commons on a bad day though.