Editorial: Links

Italy yesterday entered a course of confrontation with Europe, as one can surmise by the programme presented by the Five Star Movement and the Northern League, the two parties that are poised to lead the country.

One can comprehend the potential extent of this confrontation if one considers that the programme provides for a bond that will function more or less as a parallel currency.

Certainly, the distance between electoral proclamations and implementation is great. It remains to be seen, however, whether the two parties are decisive about crossing the Rubicon, or whether they will halt at the red lines of the European partners.

In any event, Italy is walking a tightrope. There is no doubt that if the balance of terror is lost, and it falls, it will drag along with it the entire construct of the eurozone.

The chain cannot endure losing its third largest link.

The conclusion is that the common currency is once again entering uncharted waters, with the weakest links, such as the Greek one, being the most vulnerable to torrents, rocks, and sharks.

From that perspective, the Greek government has a duty to re-examine its plans and draft alternative ones, such as a precautionary credit line, with a view to the end of the adjustment programme.

It had not done so in the summer of 2015, when it was devising its own course of confrontation with Europe. The result is known.

If it does not do so even today, the result can be disastrous.