Reference to film by Nanni Moretti. Last week, in a soiree organised by the Italian cultural circle "Palombella" (reference to the film by Nanni Moretti "Palombella rossa"), Romano Prodi presented of himself an image, until now, completely unknown on the European scene: lively, ready to start, full of anecdotes. And at the same time sincere - painfully sincere at times - over the difficulties and bitterness of his first year in Brussels.
He recognises to have badly lived certain moments, when the international press attacked him, by distributing to the public opinion school reports in which all the Commissioner has pass grade (and sometimes especially flattering notes), he was the only one to fail. "There is nothing to do when one become the target of the media: one can only resists and continue down the path. And prove with facts that behind the positions and initiatives, there is a map, a project an objective".
Romano Prodi has not hidden that his first year as President had been "a terrible year: attacks, criticisms, damaged credibility". And at times he had to pay the heaviest price that can be asked on a political figure: the "price of ridicule". Recognises having had to face it and asserts having been perfectly aware of its on several occasions. For example, in the Ghadaffi affair: his moves with the Libyan leader were described as a huge gaffe, for which he was not only criticised but also sometime ridiculed. He had to accept; and though he remains convinced that his apparently aborted initiative "allowed to change things, in the framework of a global strategy for the Mediterranean region. Several Heads of Government then met the Colonel. The price of ridicule is that which must sometimes be paid when anticipating events".
The turn of October 3. However he does not pretend to have not made any mistakes. "I was not born all knowing, I must learn", and he enjoys recalling that his first year as Prime Minister in his home country was just as difficult than his first year in Brussels. "I do not know if I learn well, but I know that the requirement to build a new Europe is a historical requirement. Maybe it will be necessary to have a crisis. Patience will be needed."
To the question of knowing at what time he had the impression that a terrible year was underway, he placed the turning point at a precise time: the speech on October 3 before the European Parliament in Strasbourg (when he defended with a vigour previously unheard of the role of the Commission and the "Community method" in the face of derision by certain governments): "the best day of the year, as I understood that we managed to pass on something to the parliamentarians, to make them understand that behind the words there was researched work, a project, convictions". And the hardest time? "You chose, there have been so many…"
Obviously we share the impression of the Commission President that the speech on 3 October represented a turning point as it is there that we have already placed in writing in this same section that, since this speech, Romano Prodi will no longer be a "single man" in Brussels, as he had felt at a given time (see EUROPE of 12 October, page 3). And at the same time we have tried to indicate what appeared to be his initial mistakes: an erroneous opinion that was forged from afar (by trusting the British press) of the European public function, or the resorting, to hit the auditors, to concepts such as for the "European government" which irritated certain Heads of Government, in place of a clearer and more firm view of the effective and irreplaceable role of the Commission… Through these statements from last week, he proved that he is now ready to fully play his part. All those who share a certain vision of Europe gain confidence and are with him. And with more sympathy, after his confession to the "Palombella" circle.
Ferdinando Riccardi