Jesuit-schooled super Mario

What do you think of the change of government in Italy?

I came to know Mario Monti quite closely when he was belatedly appointed to the so-called ‘Committee of the Wise’ set up by the Council of European Catholic Bishops (COMECE) to draft a memorandum to be submitted by the Bishops to the Council of Ministers of the European Union about its future.

One of the most desirable constitutional reforms in Malta is the creation of the possibility of the Prime Minister choosing technocrats as ministers- Fr Peter Serracino Inglott

I had been trying with not too much success, notwithstanding the weighty support of Michel Camdessus (French former chief of the IMF), to persuade my fellow members of the Advisory Group to the bishops to make sharper proposals. These included even at that time the three-pronged proposal for greater economic coordination of the eurozone that I reiterated to you in this column (April 25, 2010 some measure of harmonisation of fiscal policies, a much more substantial European budget and the ability of Europe to borrow.

Many colleagues did not disagree with these ideas but were doubtful whether the bishops would agree to such specific economic recommendations, even although I insisted that they were an expression of the value of solidarity that it was certainly the bishops’ function to promote. A shift of general attitude occurred when Monti joined us, both because of the personal esteem that he enjoyed and because of his much greater diplomatic skill in choice of language than I had.

My disappointment was great when I attended the General Assembly of the European Bishops in Rome for their discussion of our draft and the president of the commission (newly elected) presented a quite different memorandum that was in fact nothing but echoes of the Pope’s message to the council that had been read the day before the meeting at which I was present. Clearly the members of the advisory group who believed that bishops should only utter platitudes had been proven right.

Commentators could not fail to be impressed by the number of outstanding Catholics included in Prof. Monti’s small (14 men and three women) Cabinet, half the size of Silvio Berlusconi’s. Prof. Monti is himself the rector (or since American terminology is preferred by Italian business schools) president of the Bocconi University in Milan. He has also appointed the rector of the Catholic University of Milan, one of my own alma maters, Lorenzo Ornaghi as Minister of Culture. Prof. Ornaghi is an economist and expert on family policy.

Although Prof. Monti has kept the Ministry of Finance as his own direct responsibility he has appointed to the other key economic ministry, that of Development, Transport and Infrastructure, Corrado Passera, CEO of the second largest bank in Italy, the San Paolo.

A small left-wing group expressed surprise that a banker was given this post, repeating the phrase that I have quoted more than once in these columns, that “the arsonists are being called in as fire-fighters”. Such comments ignore that not all bankers are of the same ilk.

Some readers may recall that the San Paolo Bank had taken shares in Bank of Valletta. At the time when I was adviser to the Prime Minister, a director of the bank had told me that their main motivation was to persuade the Maltese government then still on the verge of applying for membership of the European Union to introduce the euro as a parallel currency to the lira in Malta, with a view to developing Malta as a centre for euro transactions.

With Josef Bonnici, I had strongly backed this idea but it was, unfortunately in my opinion, shot down by a world bank consultant then advising Malta’s Central Bank. I am recalling this episode as providing an indication of why Prof. Monti may have chosen Mr Passera as the minister who has to push the growth aspect that the new Italian Prime Minister has emphasised as the necessary complement to the austerity programme that he has kept directly in his own hands.

What do you think of the fact that this is an entirely technocratic Cabinet, made up of experts with not a single politician in it?

It has almost become a refrain in these columns for me to stress that I consider one of the most desirable constitutional reforms in Malta the creation of the possibility of the Prime Minister choosing technocrats as ministers.

I would prefer the Prime Minister to be always an elected member, while in this case Prof. Monti was only appointed a member of the Upper House of Parliament, the Senate, to facilitate his choice as Prime Minister. This because I regard the Prime Minister to have a role more like that of the US President, than that of a Primus Inter Pares according to the theory of collective cabinet responsibility.

It is a fiction to pretend that he is just the first among equals, when it is his prerogative to select or to sack the other ministers. However, it is much more in accordance with Lockean democratic theory to clearly distinguish between the executive and the legislative functions.

The best Members of Parliament are like the best members of juries in criminal trials, when they are truly representatives of men and women in the street with their common sense. Ministers are better equipped for their job if they have sound understanding of their area of responsibility.

Another minister in Prof. Monti’s government is quite well-known in Malta: Andrea Riccardi, Professor of the History of Christianity at La Sapienza University in Rome and Founder of the Sant’Egidio Community, which organised international dialogue meetings in Malta during Censu Tabone’s presidency. What do you think about the involvement of the head of a religious community in such a blatantly political position?

Prof. Riccardi’s ministry is mainly to develop co-operation with the Third World and to strengthen parity between the regions of Italy. I am sure he can co-operate significantly with Malta in pursuit of our Mediterranean Policy.

Fr Peter Serracino Inglott was talking to Miriam Vincenti.