A papier-mache float of P.M. Matteo Renzi (R) and comedian pol Beppe Grillo (L) in Viareggio, Italy. (Laura Lezza/Getty Images)
After dramatically seizing the top mantle in Italian politics by winning control of his center-left Democratic Party (PD) and forcing out its caretaker prime minister Enrico Letta last month, Matteo Renzi now finds himself in the unenviable position of actually trying to force structural reforms on the archaic political system still creaking along in Rome.
He seemed to gain ground in his effort to cajole lawmakers in Italy’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday, advancing an electoral reform law that will make stalemates in that chamber less likely by providing an extra boost to parties that earn a plurality of support, among other changes. He managed to infuriate female lawmakers in his own party, however, by nixing provisions that would have mandated gender parity on candidate lists, a concession to his partner in this grand undertaking: three-time right-wing Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
VISUAL CONTEXT: Italy’s economy has been trending downward for decades as political corruption has mounted.
But even if he has already miffed some of his own rank-and-file, the real trouble for Renzi — as for any would-be savior of Italian politics — lies in the Senate, which is resistant not only to reforming the lower house but, of course, itself. It was in the Senate that Pier Luigi Bersani, the center-left premier candidate heading into last year’s elections, fell short, dooming his coalition and speeding the transition to this new generation of political leadership. The question here is if Renzi’s obvious smarts and charm can translate to actual influence over senators who will be faced with a choice between maintaining their own power or, perhaps, serving the national interest by rendering the Senate a weak regional assembly. The new premier has only himself to blame for what could prove an impossibly ambitious schedule of reform, essentially promising one massive slice of change a month; already, he’s failed to meet his February deadline for these electoral reforms, and labor changes were supposed to come this month, as well. Total failure would only add to the hunger out there for Beppe Grillo’s Five Star and other insurgencies, especially now that Renzi has decisively thrown his lot in with the clown that is Berlusconi.
But if he can use his powers of persuasion and the sheen of a rising political star to cobble together the votes he needs in parliament, Renzi could be on to something big here. In a country that has been desperately seeking structural reform for decades, there is some hope that the right messenger has finally arrived, bridging the divide between cultural nostalgia and Italy’s bustling, troubled modernity as the E.U.’s weakest economic link.
