Italy is back on the scene

With only two public appearances so far, the new Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, has brought Italy back to relevance, to respectability and to the mainstream of Europe, which is where it deserves to be.

Monti's first appearance was his meeting in Strasbourg with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. This image alone symbolizes to what extent the incongruity of his predecessor Berlusconi ? who promised adjustment programs as fast as he emptied them of content, and uttered boorish vulgarities about his colleagues in general and the chancellor in particular ? stood in the way of a solution to the crisis in Italy and, in consequence, in Europe. No one would have ever believed that any solution was seriously intended, if this charlatan was in it.

During that appearance, Monti not only wholeheartedly accepted the austerity policy that nowadays forms part of the dominant outlook in the EU, but he also qualified and modified it, proposing the issuing of community debt, the euro bonds, an idea that is shared by many and, because of its political implications, goes well beyond any merely technocratic agenda.

His second appearance was the presentation to the Italian parliament of his program for fiscal consolidation, which shattered the myth that the pensions system could never be touched, a demand that had been imposed by Berlusconi's parliamentary ally, the regional splinter party Lega Padana. It makes sense that certain excessive asymmetries are to be eliminated, such as the fact that Italian workers can retire at 60, while their German counterparts can only do so at 67. More questionable, however, is the rather long duration of the number of years of indispensable contribution. In any case, it is highly significant that the unions have not responded with a call to a general strike.

The plan is also notable in that, along with austerity, it includes a selective array of measures aimed at stimulating demand. And in that it aims at distributing the sacrifices demanded by austerity better throughout society than the programs of other peripheral countries do ? by introducing new taxes and, above all, by more effectively prosecuting tax evasion.

It will indeed amount to a miracle if Italy manages to put a leash on the under-the-counter economy by setting a ceiling of 1,000 euros on cash payments.

Italy can play a highly desirable complementary role to the Franco-German "locomotive" of the European economy: its presence blurs the hard-edged image that there is a directorate constituted by Paris and Berlin that calls all the shots. An Italy with a prominent role to play is as desirable for Europe as it is for Italy itself.

And for Spain too, if it can manage not to fall out of step with the positive moves now being made by Italy, and regain its place as one of the EU's influential countries.