Italy is a country that has surrendered most of its national sovereignty. At least traditionally, when one thinks of an independent country, one thinks of the ability to write your own laws, manage your own economic policies, and have an independent foreign policy. Italy does none of these.
The country's laws are subject to European Union regulations, and are routinely changed to conform. In foreign policy, Italy follows the EU lead even, as in the attack on Libya, when it is against Italian strategic and economic interests. Italy does not set it's own monetary policy, has no real central bank, and it's government budget must be approved (or not) by Brussels.
Yet, despite having given away many of the tools of the modern nation state, the Italian political elite can still work up a heady froth of nationalist rhetoric, especially over issues that might impinge on a politician's ability to place a cousin in a good job.
Two recent cases have set off this empty nationalist tick. Italy's national airline, Alitalia, is going bankrupt. It has an aging fleet, high labor costs, and lots of debt. It also has been regularly feathered by politicians with people who need to be placed, routes that lose money, and facilities it does not need. Needles to say, it cannot compete with low cost airlines. It certainly cannot compete with the modern Middle Eastern airlines without a ton of new soldi (money).
The Italian state is one of the most indebted in the world, and yet, to save the airline, it is tapping into the money of the postal system to keep Alitalia flying for a little longer. Even then, the very ideal of selling the airline to a foreign rival -in this case, Air France- fills Italy's political leadership with dread. What if they highjack weathy Chinese tourists on their way to Rome and force them to see Paris? The fiends!
The idea that a country that already receives more tourism than any other in the world needs a national airline, is highly suspect. When the country itself is almost bankrupt, then throwing the pension fund money from the postal system into a money-burning biz like an airline is a crime.
The second nationalist tiff is over the Italia Telecom -- the phone company. Like all landline, legacy telecoms, this is buried in debt, is losing customers to wireless, and needs megabucks to lay down a broadband network, something the country genuinely needs. In this sad state, a bid came in from Spain's Telefonica. Suddenly Italian politicians were spouting nonsense about the need to guarantee the security of Italian phone and online connections by keeping the company Italian. Absurd to anyone who understands modern technology. Even more absurd if you see how much investment is required to wire Italy (a land where ay hole in the ground stands a reasonable chance of striking an archeological find).
But, I guess, if you can't control it, better not to do it.
Except when it really matters, when there is something truly important at stake. Take soccer. One of Italy's grand old soccer clubs, Internazionale of Milano, was just sold to an Indonesian billionaire. This provoked a very positive reaction from a football crowd not normally associated with enlightened, cosmopolitan reactions. But the fans know that for Inter to compete with their hated rivals, AC Milan, owned by Berlusconi, and Juventus, owned by the family that founded Fiat, the team needs more money. So, play ball!
As for Alitalia and Telecom, both Air France and Telefonica have since backed-off their offers.
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