I admit I almost didn't believe that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was ever going to resign. The Caiman proved indeed of having too many lives and he managed to brainwash throughout the years too many people with his promises, managing to destroy literally everything in his country, from education to jobs, morality and hopes in the future.
After the vote on the austerity measures, Berlusconi finally resigned roughly forty minutes ago, bringing an end to his political career, that is almost two decades of corruption, scandals, criminal charges, sex, parties, orgies, decadence, vulgarity and other assorted gaffes that embarrassed each and every Italian on an international level.
Surrounded by his brain-dead ministers and MPs who kept on defending the puppet master to save their jobs and wages, Berlusconi miraculously managed to remain in power during the last few months.
It's a shame though that he resigned only now that Italy is not on the very brink of a huge financial crack, but it has been practically swallowed up by a very deep abyss thanks to a man who extended his own power and control all over the country and came up with personal laws to save himself from the various trials he was and is still involved in.
The path is free now for former European commissioner Mario Monti, the economist who lent his name to the Klein-Monti model of monopolistic competition in the banking industry, and who was recently elected life Senator by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, to form an interim government and try and steer the country out of its debts (€1.9tn).
Considering the rather critical situation it is clear that nothing will change in 24 hours or in just a few weeks’ time and Italy will have to go through further austerity measures to deal with its problems.
Besides, who knows if Berlusconi the Caiman is really out of the game or if he will ever try to come back on the scene, with another political party and with more prostitutes in tow.
Yet, for the time being and even from the depths of the darkest abyss, this feels like party time for the entire country (as I write people are partying in Rome in front of the Quirinal Palace, the residence of the President of the Italian Republic), like the light at the end of an extremely long tunnel.
In the last few days, markets reacted positively as soon as Monti’s name was mentioned, so further optimistic reactions may happen now that Berlusconi is finally out.
His end for me is a victory for my home country and also a personal victory: between 2002 and 2003, I spent nine months trying to convince my lecturers and my colleagues at Strathclyde University's MLitt in Journalism course that this man was dangerous for his own country and for the rest of the world (note: dangerous not only for Europe, but for the rest of the world). Unfortunately nobody believed me then, thinking I was some kind of bizarre Savonarola figure out of her mind.
I'm personally curious to see what will happen now also to fashion, one of the Italian industries that received many blows from the global crisis and from the low cost competition of other markets.
The first testing grounds will be January's trade shows and menswear catwalks. Could Italy manage to attract new investors and buyers and restore its credibility and economy?
The challenge is officially open and while it's a very difficult one, we’re facing it with a tiny grain of optimism (also because it couldn’t be worse, could it?). In a nutshell, yes, we may be lying in the gutter, but we’re looking at the stars.
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