Posted on 04/25/2008 8:50:51 PM PDT by blam
Italy must be broken up, says Berlusconi's wife
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 1:37am BST 26/04/2008
Silvio Berlusconi's wife added her voice yesterday to the growing calls for Italy to be partitioned.
In an interview with La Stampa, Veronica Lario, 51, said: "Italy has never been well-suited to being a single country, and has never matured enough to become one. There is no longer any value in a unified Italy."
Silvio Berlusconi with his wife. Cabinet posts may go to the Northern League, which wants independence from Italy’s South
Ms Lario, a former showgirl, married Italy's prime minister-elect 18 years ago after catching his eye on a television show. Since then, she has rarely courted publicity, but does run Il Foglio, an influential newspaper.
The prospect of a devolved Italy has grown significantly in recent weeks since the Northern League, a secessionist party, won strong support in the general election.
Umberto Bossi, its volcanic leader, has repeatedly threatened to "take up arms" against the "corrupt" politicians in Rome who divert the wealth of Italy's North to the impoverished South.
Ms Lario disclosed that she was a fan of Mr Bossi and added it was time for Italy to stop being "snobbish" about the League, whose politicians are frequently coarse and populist.
advertisement "This is a disillusioned country, even after Berlusconi's victory," she said. "The League expresses concrete demands from the most productive part of Italy, which is tired of dragging the rest of the country and does not find itself represented by the Left-wing."
Mr Berlusconi, who will find it difficult to maintain a majority in parliament without the League's support, is likely to make Mr Bossi a cabinet minister. He could also appoint Roberto Calderoli, Mr Bossi's second-in-command, as deputy prime minister.
In the past, Mr Calderoli has called for immigrants to be shot in their boats and for a national pork-eating day to defy Islam.
"If the people have voted for Mr Calderoli," said Ms Lario, "that gives him credibility".
The driving force of Italian economics...is the northern one third of the country. These guys know it...they have the facts...and they are now questioning about the various amounts of money that is returned to their region (schools, infrastructure, etc). This is not to say that the central or the southern part of the country makes no money...but the bulk is northern-generated.
Its a wonderful topic of discussion with Italians because they all get into this. I spent two weeks there last year...and its the best starter of a conversation that you can use. I doubt seriously that they can bring themselves to break the country up...because of the Roman history business. Although the northern third folks....would love to dream about their little nation being the biggest per capita money generator of any EU country....so they want to brag.
Sounds like California.
Southern Italy was richer than the North for quite a while after that. In the 12th century, the Norman kingdom in Sicily and Apulia was the richest state in Europe other than the Byzantine Empire.
The states that foot the bills are states like New York and Connecticut, not Utah and Montana.
Funny you should mention. There are those who would like to see Quebec and the Yucatan in the same governing body (and everything in between.)
Just like Garibaldi... and for similar reasons.
If Italy is divided or partitioned, within 40 years most of the “South” however defined will see the native Italian population become the minority in their own homelands.
With that foothold, Arabisation of the Mediterranean can increase much more rapidly as they take control of “south Italy’s” political and economic reins of power.
So who gets all those World Cups if Italy breaks apart?
Southern Italy was the prosperous and unified kingdom of Naples when Northern Italy was a morass of foreign occupied areas, the Papal States, and warring city states. Then the Spanish kings took over.
And as we can see from our part of the world, wherever the Spaniards were in charge for 15 minutes has been f$#ked up for the next 500 years, or perhaps forever. However, the Spaniards were also in charge of many regions in Northern Italy, as well. Go figure.
Breaking up Italy seems like a dumb idea to me. Would we think of kicking out Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana just because they absorb more than they contribute in taxes? That would make all of us in Maine very nervous. ( This state is so poor we'd have to join Nova Scotia, or God forbid, Quebec. And after all, was us Maine fellows what won the Civil War. You owe us.)
Besides, Northern Italians are overdressed PIAs. They are more or less like their southern compatriots but refuse to admit it, idiotically believing themselves somewhat different racially. I lived and worked out of Milan, so I know these things. (Loved the place.)
BTW, Hannibal tramped all over Italy. Southern Italy is certainly not a mess, despite what the Lega Lombarda says. It just has a few messy parts of towns, and nothing as bad as Detroit. It's a lot like non-desert California. Fabulous uncrowded beaches. Napoli? Well yeah, that is a mess, but a charming mess with some of the world's greatest museums, very beautiful stylish women and some truly fabulous neighborhoods. LA, but with more slums, much better restaurants, and a whole lot more culture. And boy, is it old!
I like Mr. Berlusconi. I really like Mrs. Berlusconi, especially after watching Mrs. Clinton on TV in her pants suit. But Italy already has federated regions and regional parliaments, which is one reason nothing ever gets done.
When the Southerners ask for more money, instead of breaking up, they could just say "no."
When are these Europeans ever going to learn? They need to improve their system of government, not partition their country geographically.
Most of the Arab Muslims in Italy seem to be city types, and there are millions of them. The real danger to Southern Italy is probably more the Albanian Muslim and Eastern European invasion.
The Albanians smuggle thousands of illegal aliens in, and have already taken over abandoned hill towns. Italy, north and south is awash with illegal immigrants, millions of them ...Chinese, VietNamese, Africans of all sorts, Eastern Europeans, Gypsies, and the Albanians. The Left in Italy is much loonier than our looniest Left ... but a reaction to this problem is inevitable, and it ain't gonna be pretty.
< The states that foot the bills are states like New York and Connecticut, not Utah and Montana. >
I’m sorry, but your statement - foot the bills - doesn’t compute; could you please clarify what you mean?
Let me restate my off-the-cuff remark. This politician, Umberto Bossi, reminds me of some of the bluff, direct, no-nonsense politicians that western U.S. states sometime send to Congress.
Seen this ?
where we are headed...and look how long they have been at it.
who gets Rome?
will Naples be the capital of Italia Sud?
She’s hot for fiddyone
She’s not guilty.
But really, this is all a lot of gum flapping. Nothing’s going to happen.
If Italy gets broken up, I’ll take the part with Mara Carfagna in it.
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