Europe - Politics

In this essay I will talk about Europe's organization in general, and why I'm very proud to be European! The focus will be on my country in details, its actual government, values and the general economic situation in the last years.

Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL. An era of parliamentary government came close in the 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II.

That period was very bad for the whole Nation, people didn't really understand, at the beginning what was going on when Mussolini took office. He was a very proud man, a dictator with a clear project: make of Italy a known place all over the world. What he wanted actually happened, but it was not what Italians had figured to happen in their immediate future.

The Government has always been a fictitious issue. When somebody is elected as Prime Minister, there is no way to remove him from his office. The term lasts five years. Five years is a very long time, and lots of things can happen. Although there is a President, his only function is to represent the Nation and encourage people in bad moments. The Prime Minister is at the head of the Government. Some of the legislative powers are in his hands, and some belongs to the Parliament.

The Parliament consist of the Senate (315 seats elected by popular vote of which 232 are directly elected and 83 are elected by regional proportional representation plus, in addition, there are a small number of senators-for-life including former presidents of the republic; members serve five-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies (630 seats; 475 are directly elected, 155 by regional proportional representation; members serve five-year terms).

The confusing thing is the period preceding elections. This is because there are so many parties, that most of the time people are not able to understand the difference between them. They make coalitions between each other; the most of the time only with the purpose to have more chances to win. This is very unproductive. During the days before the elections, politicians make promises to each other and to the populations. They try to catch each other before somebody else does. Sometimes it's noticeable that their speeches are very different from the previous, just because now they have a new coalition. When people go to vote, they never know what they're really voting for. A big part of citizen are really mad because of this situation, the concerning thing is that some of them, are so bored of politic that they are not even interested in voting anymore. They just think that it makes no difference it's useless. This is wrong! Everyone can make the difference.

In my city, some days before the elections the most dishonest politicians pay some people to destroy the opposite parties electoral poster, like if this could make any difference!!!

Many people just decide that the whole system doesn't work, and the only thing to do in order to have a better life is to move to some other countries and find a good job. Unemployment is a huge problem in Italy, half of the population cannot find a job, and the 30 per cent of people with a degree find one at least two years after graduation. Italy has suffered from a less than stable coalition government, which can be blamed for many of the country's economic woes.

The economic woes Italy faces, specifically that of a large budget deficit, heavily regulated businesses laws, high inflation rate, high unemployment rate and a generous pension system, has made Italy a country whose economy has not achieved its full potential. Italy has been in the process of making significant economic reforms; these reforms have been enacted to boost the country's economy, but that is not the only reason. Italy's attempts to reform the domestic economy is also designed to help Italy achieve the established criterion which will allow it to join the European Monetary Union

A change was starting to be seen when the prime minister Romano Prodi took office in 1996, he had great ideas and population was starting to get more interested in politic thanks to him. Things would have changed a little bit probably, if he didn't leave his office for a more prestigious one! Romano Prodi is now the President of the European Union. The leader of many other countries voted him because of the positive changes he brought in the economy.

Those changes are now lost, because of his successors. The actual President of Italy is Carlo Azzelio Ciampi, the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The Prime Minister is a very rich business-man in Italy. He owns a huge company in the north of Italy that employs about 30.000 people. He was elected mostly because of his skills in the economic field. The opposite party has always tried to prevent him from taking office simply because of the conflict of interest that would grow.

He is planning to propose some reforms that will give more strengthen to big companies and that could cause lots of problems to the small ones. If big companies develop more, there would be no space for the little ones. No competition on the market. Obviously his own company would benefit much from these reforms, and this is the most vague thing.

Many judges are studying this case, and eventually, Berlusconi will loose his office, if they decide that the conflict of interests is too big.

The judicial branch is composed of 15 judges appointed by the President for one-third, one-third elected by Parliament, one-third elected by the ordinary and administrative Supreme Courts. The great part of the decisions is taken considering all the Constitutional articles.

There is another factor that influences the Italian government and economy, the presence of the Vatican in Rome. The main religion in Italy is the Roman Catholic; the Pope is at the head of the church. Even if the Vatican is a Country by itself based on a theocracy Government, religion has a big influence on the Italian Democracy. Sometimes it happens that the Government has to pass a bill that could in some way be discussed because immoral for the church. If politicians review this bill than a part of the population will think that it's not fair