Almost all of us are familiar with the halls of political power – the Quirinale, the Viminale, Palazzo Madama – especially through television. The image of the Halls of politics where the confrontations – or often clashes – between the majority and the opposition take place to decide the future of our country, is therefore familiar to every citizen. This familiarity certainly does not help to reduce the distrust with which many Italians view the halls of power. A distrust that is the result of the sometimes shameful spectacle offered by our political class in recent years, but also of some deeply rooted prejudices.
The economist Carlo Cottarelli in his “Dentro il Palazzo” (Mondadori, 2024, pp. 240, also e-book) tries to give us a sincere photograph of how the Italian political system works and what really happens in the halls of power of our institutions.
As he explains in his introduction to the volume: "I wrote this book to share with a wider audience what I have seen by observing the functioning of the Italian political world from within . We are in a phase of reform of political institutions through various instruments, including the constitutional bill that would introduce the direct election of the Prime Minister by Italian citizens, a new change in the electoral law, differentiated autonomy. It therefore seems to me to be a good time to reflect on the state of our political system based on how it currently works."
The reflection initiated in the book by Carlo Cottarelli is that of a privileged witness in a particular season of Italian politics experienced firsthand by the famous economist. In the first part of the book, which is also the main one, the author recounts his experience as a senator of the Republic between 2022 and 2023. In the second part, he recalls the days spent as Prime Minister-designate after the elections of March 4, 2018 , during an institutional crisis that was unprecedented in our country. In that March 2018, the 5 Star Movement and the Center-right led at the time by Matteo Salvini's League had emerged victorious from the polls and President Mattarella, given the difficulties of creating a coalition government, had given an exploratory mandate to Cottarelli.
Drawing on his direct experience in the halls of power, the author can thus examine, with a pinch of irony and through numerous personal anecdotes, the state of our politics. He records its distortions, inefficiencies, lost potential, describing from the inside the functioning of our Parliament and dealing, among other things, with burning current issues such as the progressive downsizing of its role compared to that of the government, the debate now reduced to a clash between opposing factions.
It is not for nothing that Cottarelli writes: «Among all the problems that I identify, the one that stands out is the growing irrelevance in our country of the legislative power compared to the executive power , a problem that would be accentuated by the direct election of the Prime Minister, as foreseen by the constitutional reform currently being approved». In addition, the author touches on hot topics such as the salaries of deputies and senators, the byzantinism of practices, the distancing of citizens from voting , and what can be done to bring citizens closer to politics.
Above all, he recounts for the first time in detail those four days in 2018 that saw him go up to the Quirinale several times in an attempt to form a new government . A failed attempt that however allowed Cottarelli to start a non-trivial reflection on the political implications of President Mattarella's choice to entrust the formation of the government not to a political leader, but to a technician, external to the parties.
The author uses very clear words in this sense to describe a situation bordering on constitutionality: "At the root of the institutional crisis that opened up in those days was the role of the President of the Republic with respect to those who had just won the political elections. How could the former, in choosing ministers, oppose those who had received direct popular investiture? Following the same logic, how could the President of the Republic continue to play the role of impartial arbiter still entrusted to him by the Constitution in the face of a Prime Minister elected directly by the people as foreseen with the transition to the premiership? From this point of view too, the balance of power would be upset."
Heavy doubts, especially in the future perspective even if Cottarelli in his book appears confident that politics, the noble one, with a capital “P” can eventually emerge even from the Italian quicksand.
Despite the frustrations and disappointments experienced, despite the distrust and skepticism that surround the Italian political class, the author does not skimp on non-trivial words in times like ours: "I can assure you, however, that the vast majority of my former colleagues carry out their work with dedication and commitment, and that the shortcomings and imperfections to which I refer in this writing are the result of forces that individual parliamentarians cannot, with all the good will, control individually." Let us hope then that Cottarelli's trust is well placed.