Banana republic


You know that your country is becoming a banana republic when the three main news items of the day are about three separate cases of corruption regarding important politicians.

Banana Republic of Italy
Image courtesy of Emmanuele Bassi

The Minister of Justice Mario Clemente Mastella (UDEUR, center-left coalition), his wife (president of the Regional Council of Campania) and other members of his party have been accused of bribery. When, on Wednesday, his wife was placed under house arrest he resigned but he will continue to support the coalition on a case-by-case basis. This means that with only three seats, on a total of 315 elected senators, he will have a strong blackmailing power as the center-left coalition has a majority of one in the Senate.

The governor of Sicily, Salvatore Cuffaro (UDC, center-right coalition), was found guilty of having helped the Mafia and was given a five-year sentence but he will not go to jail until the automatic appeal process is concluded. This will take years so, despite the sentence, he can continue to govern Sicily.

In the meantime Naples prosecutors have called for Silvio Berlusconi (Forza Italia, center-right coalition), the former prime minister, to be sent for trial on corruption charges. In a separate criminal case he is also accused of trying to pay some senators elected with the center-left coalition to vote against the government.

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January 19th, 2008
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Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Mardy
Posted on:
January 19, 2008 at 8:40 pm

The “funny” thing is that Berlusconi was not really paying the senators directly, but he was arranging them some meeting with some not-so-ethic women. Just to add some spice to the bananas. ;-)

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Juri Pakaste
Posted on:
January 20, 2008 at 10:08 am

I don’t think your situation is that bad; so you have corruption, but at least it gets reported and investigated. Compare this to a certain other country that most certainly has problems too but where the biggest headlines are about Britney and her little sis.

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
asdf
Posted on:
January 20, 2008 at 12:40 pm

Ottima idea aumentare la pubblicità negativa sull’Italia! Ovviamente la monnezza che sommerge la Campania non era sufficiente, questo “rinforzino” capita giusto a proposito.

Posso suggerire anche qualche parola riguardo il papa, la prostituzione minorile, le rapine in villa e gli sprechi della politica? Potrebbe esserci ancora qualche turista in giro che potrebbe voler visitare l’Italia, o qualcuno che (orrore!) potrebbe voler stabilire rapporti commerciali con questo paese. Non sia mai, blocchiamo lo straniero prima che faccia qualcosa di buono in Italia!!!

pfffft ….

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
fina
Posted on:
January 20, 2008 at 5:09 pm

@asdf
negative publicity? this is just reality!!!

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
koko
Posted on:
January 21, 2008 at 12:36 am

@Juri Pakaste
You are wrong, Italy really has a big problem with corruption, GDP per person, complying with UE directives, North vs. South problem, etc. It is no good

–
EU Citizen

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
asdf
Posted on:
January 21, 2008 at 10:22 pm

@fina

L’Italia non è una repubblica delle banane: è un paese con problemi di varia natura, tra i quali anche la corruzione, ma l’autoflagellazione fine a se stessa è inutile e, aggiungendo ai problemi anche quello di facilitare l’identificazione fra Italia e spazzatura/corruzione/mafia/etc. che tante parti interessate hanno interesse a diffondere quanto più possibile, dannosa.

Ciascuno ha diritto a sfogarsi, capisco l’autore del blog, ma essere parte del problema invece che della soluzione non ha senso …

Comment Number:
7
Written by:
fina
Posted on:
January 21, 2008 at 10:35 pm

@asdf
tant’è infatti che proprio oggi è venuto fuori un sondaggio secondo cui siamo il peggior paese governato d’europa.
sarà mica perchè abbiamo i ministri che ricattano il governo ogni 3×2?

Comment Number:
8
Written by:
asdf
Posted on:
January 22, 2008 at 12:14 am

@fina

Sarà perché è vero, anche :) Non gliel’ha mica prescritto il medico di fare questa ammucchiata senza capo né coda … meno male che siamo alle battute finali.