Rome Letter Paddy AgnewSo then, how is dear old Italy and how does she stand? Well, the answer depends on who you ask. As we head into the new year, the good news, as so often, comes from dynamic Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
At his end of year news conference, he was buzzing with optimism, assuring Italians that "2005 will be the year of the turn-around".
GDP was up 1.4 per cent, salaries on average up 2.6-2.7 per cent, while inflation was stable at around 2.0 per cent, he said. Furthermore, he claimed, contrary to reports, that 2004 was not the year when the effective spending power of the average Italian family had declined.
That might well be. Yet what about the almost daily barrage of opinion polls informing us of an Italian population ever more disillusioned about the future? How come only 7.3 per cent of Italians feel Italian democracy works well, that faith in economic institutions (banks, stock market and the business sector) has been in constant decline over the last five years and that, by comparison with 2003, petrol has gone up 10.4 per cent, heating oil 15.6 per cent, and alcoholic drinks and tobacco 10.7 per cent, to name just three commodities? (Sources: Eurispes and Rapporto Demos).
Why did the Wall Street Journal place Italy 26th in its "Index of Economic Freedom" survey (Ireland rated fifth, while Italy came in just behind Lithuania and just ahead of Latvia)? Why did the newspaper (along with the Heritage Foundation) argue that corruption and illegality in business life is more common in Italy than elsewhere in Europe?
Why also did it claim that the Italian economy has grown less than its euro-zone neighbours over the last five years, condemning the Berlusconi government for its failure to implement radical structural reforms? Maybe, the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation are simply wrong. In that case, so too is the Economist in its end of year review issue, in an article entitled "Enjoy Italy while it lasts" and written by an experienced Italian journalist, Beppe Severgnini: "Population, immigration, innovation, transportation, higher education: wherever the country's future is concerned, Italy seems at a loss."
Severgnini goes on to point out that according to the World Economic Forum, Italy has dropped to 47th place in the global- competitiveness league. Furthermore, he says, Italy has a new class of "quasi poveri" (nearly poor), 10 per cent of Italians who live in poverty (Source: Istat).
One man who clearly did not believe the prime minister's optimistic words was bricklayer Roberto dal Bosco from Mantua. He was in Rome's splendid Piazza Navona on New Year's Eve when he saw Berlusconi, plus security detail, out for an evening stroll amongst the "popolo". In anger, he threw his camera tripod at the prime minister, hitting him on the back of the neck and leaving him with some serious bruises: "I did it because I hate him," Dal Bosco later told reporters.
Within hours, the irate bricklayer had repented, later going on to write a letter of apology to the prime minister in which he denounced his own intemperate gesture, claiming that he could not "forgive himself" for a gesture that was the fruit of a "moment of despicable euphoria".
Magnanimously, Berlusconi forgave his attacker but not before the country was gripped with an epidemic of text messages such as: "Give just one euro; together we can purchase an intensive course in target practice for the Mantua man who lightly-injured Berlusconi." Or, "Please take part in this campaign and also send on this text message: give 10 cent to buy a new tripod for the guy from Mantua".
With regional elections scheduled and with constitutional reform on the political agenda, this year is sure to be anything but dull. It could even be the year when work will begin on the long planned, €5 billion suspension bridge between mainland Italy and Messina in Sicily.
It remains to be seen if Berlusconi's optimism is justified.
One final thought, though, from his end of year news conference.
The prime minister did confirm that a hair transplant he had last summer is starting to bear fruit. It is growing marvellously, he said. Now, that is good news.