[attach id=244867 size="medium"]Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is due to retire in mid-May. Photo: Reuters[/attach]
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano faced criticism yesterday for failing to name any women to the 10-strong ‘wise men’ panel of experts he appointed to help find a way out of the political deadlock created by last month’s election.
Daily newspaper Corriere della Sera said in a front page article: “As usual there isn’t a woman”.
Italian women have long struggled for equality and have the third lowest level of employment of any country in the 34-member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), ahead of only Greece, Mexico and Turkey.
Italy’s 87-year-old President Giorgio Napolitano will face the greatest test of his career during his final weeks in office as he tries to end the standoff preventing a new government being formed more than a month after elections.
Following widespread reports he may resign to open the way for a new vote, Napolitano pledged to remain in office at the Quirinale palace until his term ends on May 15, averting the immediate threat of further turmoil.
He named 10 ‘wise men’ including European Affairs Minister Enzo Moavero and senior politicians from the main centre-left and centre-right blocs to propose a series of urgent measures that could be backed by all parties.
The group are due to meet for the first time tomorrow when details will be announced.
These are expected to include cutting the cost of the bloated political system and replacing the widely criticised electoral law to avoid a repeat of the deadlock in future elections.
“It would be a disaster to go back to an election without have reformed the electoral law,” Valerio Onida, former head of the Constitutional court who is part of the advisory group, told La Repubblica newspaper.
With financial markets already concerned about instability in the eurozone’s third-largest economy, the prospect of Napolitano leaving raised alarm and moves to escape the impasse received a cautious welcome from commentators.
“It was the right decision, it will avoid sending a dangerous signal to the markets and will show that Italian institutions are solid and functioning,” Enrico Letta, deputy head of the centre-left Democratic Party said.
However, there were few illusions that summoning the ‘wise men’, in line with a long tradition in Italian politics, offered more than a slim hope of overcoming the deep divisions that have prevented the parties from coming to an agreement.
“Political history shows, alas, that whenever someone wants not to decide something, what happens? They set up a nice commission,” Daniela Santanche, a member of Parliament close to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, told La Stampa.
She said there was no alternative to Berlusconi’s demand to share power in a coalition with the centre-left formation led by Pier Luigi Bersani, which has repeatedly said it cannot deal with the scandal-plagued billionaire.
“Otherwise we go to elections, which we’re sure of winning. There won’t be any strange third ways,” she said.
Newspapers reported yesterday that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi called Napolitano to express concern his resignation would leave Italy without leadership at a time of mounting tension in financial markets.
However, Napolitano has acknowledged he has only limited power to force the parties to find a way out of political situation he said was “frozen between irreconcilable positions”.