The Leopardian revolution of Sanchez in Spain, Pax Draghiana in Italy
We are happy to receive and publish this article by Rodrigo Ballister, Director of the European Studies Center of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest
“Everything must change so that everything remains as it was before ”. There is no better way to describe Pedro Sánchez's hit-and-run, who reshaped his government this week, than with the classic Gattopardian maxim. At first glance, the change seems radical: seven new ministers, surprise dismissal of its praetorians, a rejuvenated and mostly female government. A new course for Spain in a post- Covid context, a new opportunity after a disastrous mandate start? Or just a smoke screen to continue as before? Any observer of Spanish politics knows the answer: Although Spain needs it like never before, Sánchez will not change. Like always.
While in Italy Draghi enjoys broad parliamentary support and has managed to lead the political forces on the path of pragmatism, Spain has a prime minister who is as tactically astute as strategically incompetent. A politician whose main intention is to conquer power and then not to exercise it, who is more concerned with appearing than doing and more about maneuvering than governing. Sanchez appears as the negative copy of the current Italian Prime Minister.
Contrary to Italy, the tension between the powers of the state in Spain is at the limit. In addition to countless unprecedented clashes between the judiciary (Supreme Court, General Council of the Judiciary, Court of Auditors) and the Executive, Pedro Sánchez subjected the Crown to a series of attacks and humiliations unprecedented in forty years of democracy in a period of greater political and social vulnerability in the country. All this in contrast with the Pax Draghiana , the close relationship between President Mattarella and Draghi himself and the truce that the political forces have signed.
Together with Italy, Spain will be the country that will benefit most from European funds (140 billion euros). But unlike the Bel Paese, these will not be managed with the same transparency and transversality or with an active participation of the private sector. A management that promises to be approximate and that adds to the territorial complexity of Spain, a federal state that does not dare to admit to being such. The resources of the Recovery Fund will make a difference in any case but the country runs the risk of not fully exploiting this historic opportunity because it lacks the horizontality and skills that Italy could benefit from.
Covid and the subsequent crisis hit both countries hard and Europe showed the same generosity towards both. Even so, Italy is likely to seize this opportunity better than Spain because in Italy, with the crisis, some things have changed while in Spain, despite the bombastic ministerial changes and other press provisions, nothing has changed. Sánchez came to power before the crisis and continues to rule as if nothing had happened. Change everything so that nothing changes. Everything must change so that everything remains as it was before.
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This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/rivoluzione-gattopardiana-di-sanchez-in-spagna-pax-draghiana-in-italia/ on Thu, 05 Aug 2021 03:49:00 +0000.