5 April 2008

At the Country’s expense

The case of Alitalia, a national airline that has failed, raising the spectre of bankruptcy and mass retrenchments, is not an isolated case. There are insufficient letters in the alphabet to list all of the problems that Italy is facing and there is an urgent need to act very decisively. The disaster in terms of image, caused by the fiasco of the buffalo mozzarella and the adulterated wine, has translated into heavy financial losses, particularly abroad.
The fact of the EU asking for explanations on a daily basis with regard to our foodstuff products, as well as Japan and China’s import ban, constitute long-term damage. The foreign consumer tends to associate the product at risk with Italy as a whole rather than with simply a small part of the Country, such as perhaps Naples or Tuscany. Trust is not quickly regained, not even with the ritual apologies. The final result could well be the rejection of any foodstuffs originating from Italy as a whole. Tourism is also experiencing similar problems. For the rest of the world, Alitalia is a symbol of Italy, and to see the company’s anguish splashed out on the front pages of the foreign tabloids as a result of losses incurred, amounting to 88 million Euro in February alone, and this, together with the images of the piles of refuse in Campania, keep the tourists away from Italy. Unfortunately, I could continue indefinitely along this path.
The electoral campaign is going on unabated, with a climate of promises and IOUs and, at the same time, with new emergencies arising daily, requiring action that is being put off until after the elections. It is almost as if, by some magic, the solutions to these problems will simply appear out of nowhere immediately after the 14th April. The Italia dei Valori Party has demanded Bassolino’s resignation, but Bassolino is still there. The Italia dei Valori Party has highlighted Silvio Berlusconi’s interference in the Alitalia-Air France negotiations. Interference that is probably dictated by his allies in the Lega Nord Party, in other words, by politics rather than by business considerations. Interference that is tantamount to insider trading and that caused the agreement with Air France to fall through, also thanks to the attitude displayed by the trades union. The fact that we are facing imminent elections is not a valid reason for anyone to hamstring the Country by passing on the problems to the new incumbent, or even to aggravate the situation further.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Politics