Rome: Jittery bond markets, militant union leaders, angry bosses and even a spate of suicides by recession-hit Italians – the crisis confronting Mario Monti's technocrat government shows no sign of relenting.
Capping the prime minister's worst week in office since he replaced Silvio Berlusconi in the midst of financial turmoil in November, Italy's main trade union federation confirmed on Friday that it would press ahead with strikes in protest against the government's economic reforms.
"We are not standing down," said Susanna Camusso, leader of the leftwing CGIL. Workers are to down tools next Friday over pension reforms passed in December and will strike again when parliament debates Mr Monti's controversial labour reform legislation.
Rather than feeling mollified by concessions made by Mr Monti over changes to rules on the firing of workers for economic reasons, Ms Camusso made it clear the union felt emboldened by its mobilisation.
Those concessions, announced by Mr Monti on Wednesday just two weeks after he said the matter was "closed", drew a fierce response from Confindustria, the main employers' lobby, as well as associations representing banking, insurance, co-operatives, retailers and even farmers.
"The text is very bad," Emma Marcegaglia, head of Confindustria, told the Financial Times, saying it would be better to scrap the entire labour reform legislation if it were not amended in parliament. A senate committee will start examining the bill on Wednesday and the government hopes to reach a final vote within weeks.
Ms Marcegaglia's forthright criticism of the climbdown stunned the government. Elsa Fornero, welfare minister and architect of the reforms who spent more than two months negotiating with unions and employers, called the reaction "hysterical".
Nonetheless, Ms Marcegaglia's tough position has been echoed by senior figures in Mr Berlusconi's centre-right People of Liberty party, who said they would amend the bill in favour of employers, setting the stage for a parliamentary battle with the centre-left Democrats who had persuaded Mr Monti to water down his legislation.
However, senior business figures on Friday came out in support of the government in an effort to smooth over a rift that could damage Italy's regained credibility on nervous financial markets.
Paolo Scaroni, chief executive of Eni, the state-controlled oil and gas company, noted the historic sensitivities over the most controversial aspect of a complex package of reforms – Article 18 of the workers' statute that protects workers from being laid off.
"People have died over Article 18. It has been a tragic issue for this country," he said. "The result over Article 18 probably does not get us 100 per cent of what we expected but at the same time this is a major step forward, not a step backward," he told the Financial Times, contradicting Ms Marcegaglia.
"Italy will not be Texas tomorrow in terms of labour competitiveness, but it brings us closer to continental Europe," he added.
Fernando Napolitano, a board member of utility Enel, who is also organising foreign investment for Italian high-tech start-ups, says Mr Monti's "real, historic achievement is to demonstrate that there are no more taboos like Article 18".
"Monti is setting standards and benchmarks that will be hard to bypass in the future. We can only go one way, not back," he said.
But while bond markets and foreign leaders have embraced Mr Monti, the image of Italy at home is one of deepening gloom.
Antonio Di Pietro, leader of the Italy of Values opposition party, raged in parliament that Mr Monti had "on his conscience" a spate of suicides this week that dominated the media, including a Rome builder who shot himself over his failed business and a 78-year-old woman who jumped to her death because of her reduced pension.
As government officials concede, Mr Monti's honeymoon is over. However, his diminished popularity still outshines Italy's leading politicians, their parties mired in corruption scandals, as illustrated by the resignation on Thursday of Umberto Bossi, veteran firebrand leader of the federalist Northern League which had opposed Mr Monti's appointment. Mr Berlusconi has also reiterated he will not stand for high office again.
"The cult of personality is coming to an end," said Mr Napolitano, commenting on the sea changes brought by the crisis and Mr Monti's arrival. "The country is evolving in the right direction."
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012
Posted on www.ft.com on April 6, 2012 5:46 pm
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