Dr. Andrea Gallo is the director of Funding Aid Strategies Investments (FASI) in Rome.
"President Giorgio Napolitano has done well to quickly write off those claiming that Mario Monti's nomination as senator for life is a prelude to a government position. It is an all in all well deserved and appropriate recognition of his personal stature, of his professional merits, and of the work carried out in Europe.
When officials of the European Commission talk about him in Brussels, they always express great esteem without reservation and recall in admiration his authoritativeness [as competition commissioner] in the battles he led against powerful multinational corporations. This credibility can now not only be brought to bear in the rescue of Italy, but can most importantly reinforce the governance of the Union, whose leaders in the past few months have certainly not shown quickness and determination in making the choices necessary to tackle first the Greek crisis and now Italy's.
It does not indeed seem possible that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be able to meet and discuss political programmes without availing themselves of the international renown of a personality whose calibre is acknowledged beyond his Europeanism. We must remember that the whole European Union is in the midst of a credibility crisis on the American and Asian markets, because of the lack of a central government with ample powers over economic and fiscal policies. The United States' public debt is very high as well, but the dollar does not have to undergo the same strains the common currency has, thanks to the full control the US government has on the economy.
Once again, it does not appear possible that at least the leaders of the countries that most heavily influence Europe's overall economy do not take part in the Union's summit discussions. First and foremost the UK, which has kept its currency, a fact which however does not relieve it of its responsibilities towards the Union, seeing as it is one of the world's leading financial markets.
Actually, all of the leaders of the European countries have to be involved in the fundamental decisions that might put the survival of the Union at risk, through a method based on the rapidity and effectiveness of measures, a set of characteristics which up to this day have not come out of the bilateral meetings between the leaders of France and Germany.
Monti guarantees a recovery of credibility for Italy, but on the European level his contribution will be much more substantial. In the end, Berlusconi too has understood this, with the endorsement of Minister Franco Frattini, who stated it would be appropriate for Berlusconi to “go out as a statesman, helping to save Italy with the Democratic Party (PD).” What contribution can parties who do not understand this really make to Italy and Europe?"
