La Crisi

That's how Il Corriere della Sera is referring to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's decision Wednesday to offer his resignation (sorry cari lettori, I should have posted something Wednesday but I stayed up late watching Porta a Porta on RAI International. Talk about appointment television! The episode featured members of the current opposition coalition, including Gianfranco Fini of Alleanza Nazionale, and members of the maggioranza, and the most common remark made was: "Mi faccia finire!")

ANYWAY: La crisi is such that the Center Left thinks Prodi can still govern (Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has not accepted his resignation) while the Right says it's curtains for Prodi.

Here are some excerpts from the coverage from Il Corriere della Sera:

"L'Unione crede nel reincarico a Prodi. 'Non stiamo parlando di un Prodi bis ma di un Prodi 1 che tornerà alle Camere, se il presidente della Repubblica deciderà cosi. Alle 18 andiamo al Quirinale e ne parleremo con Napolitano,' spiega il vicepremier Francesco Rutelli."

But here's what the Right says:

"'L'Italia ha bisogno di un governo che goda di una maggioranza politicamente coesa e numericamente autosufficiente e indiscutibile,' chiarisce Fini. Forza Italia è contraria ogni reincarico a Prodi ma al momento non si pronuncia sul ricorso alle urne."

Ma che è successo che Prodi ha deciso di dimettersi? Well, let's put it this way: L'America c'entra. Prodi stepped down after his coalition lost a decisive vote on reauthorizing Italian troops in Afghanistan. Many in the Centro Sinistra are against deploying troops in the American War on Terror (Italian soldiers are typically in peace-keeping roles in the various trouble spots around the globe).

There's also another current Italian political matter in which America plays a prominent role. The U.S. wants to expand its military base in Vicenza, which is in Northeast Italy (i.e. Lega Nord/secession territory), but many Italians living in that area are against it, and indeed they marched in protest against it recently.