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Collegevoorzitter op stoel Berlusconi

Nieuws | de redactie
11 november 2011 | Een universiteitspresident moet Italië redden. Wie is Mario Monti? En wat weten we van de visie van de nieuwe premier en van zijn bijzondere netwerk in de wereld van wetenschap en economie? Zijn openingsrede van het academisch jaar was in elk geval profetisch.

Mario Monti is President van deprestigieuze Università Bocconi in Milaan. Befaamd is hij is Europaals langjarige Eurocommissaris voor zowel de zware portefeuilleInterne Markt als die van Mededinging, als voorganger van NeelieKroes.

In zijn CV vermeldt Bocconi ook nog de functies van “Honorary President of Bruegel, a European think-tank foreconomic policy, and member of the Reflection Group on the Futureof Europe in 2020-2030, established by the European Council andpresided by Felipe González.”

Hoogwaardig netwerk

Monti is tevens lid van de “Commission pour la libération dela croissance française established by the President of the FrenchRepublic Nicolas Sarkozy and presided by Jacques Attali.” Dat hijin de wereld van het internationale bedrijfsleven nogsteeds uitstekende netwerken heeft blijkt uit zijn bijbanen. “He isInternational Advisor of Goldman Sachs and Member of theInternational Advisory Board of the Coca-Cola Company.”

Dat netwerk blijkt eens te meer uit de samenstelling van deinternationale adviesraad van Bocconi. Daarin zitten onder meerJosef Ackermann, voorzitter van de Deutsche Bank, Martin Feldstein,Professor of Economics at Harvard University, President Emeritus ofthe National Bureau of Economic Research en topadviseur van depresidenten Reagan en Bush sr. en Otmar Issing, President of theCenter for Financial Studies aan de Goethe Universiteit inFrankfurt, oud-lid van de Executive Board van de Europese CentraleBank.

Vanuit Azië zit in deze groep adviseurs Kishore Mahbubani,Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NationalUniversity of Singapore. (U leest ‘Het daagt in het Oosten’,hetinterview van ScienceGuide met Mahbubani hier.) Voorzitter van dieadviesraad is Antonio Borges, IMF Director of the EuropeanDepartment of the Fund, CvB-lid van de Università Bocconi Board ende vroegere  Dean van INSEAD.

Een bijna profetische rede

De rede die Mario Monti hield bij de meest recente openingvan het academisch jaar – in december 2010 – is nu eens te meeractueel en bijna profetisch te noemen. Hij ging nadrukkelijk in opde noodzaak tot hervormingen in Italië en de EU om uit de dreigendecrisis te komen. U leest de meest saillante passageshieronder.

“Italy and Europe are going through a time of crisis:political crisis, monetary crisis, a crisis of credibility. Fromthese crises, at times, significant and long-lasting progressarises. Even so, crises shorten the field of vision, less attentionis given to building the future and they cause one to focus more onachieving objectives in the near future. In recent years, recentmonths and recent days, the field of vision of time and space inItaly has been progressively, fearfully reduced.

Even the European Union, though not certain in its measures,has been forced to narrow its own field of vision. Absorbed by theimperative of defending its currency, it has become moreintroverted, less attentive and less active on a global scale. Yetthis is the round in which it may fully participate, while none ofthe countries within it could do the same, not even the largestcountries. With all of you today, we would like to try to increasethe Italian and European field of vision in both time and space.Thus giving you an idea of the spirit in which our Faculty, alongwith our students, seek to position themselves each day of theacademic year.

We have recalled the need to speak less and observe more manytimes in the Italian debate, systematically looking towards thefuture and an international outlook, working on a project as agroup, setting deadlines. Just one example: in Poland, a countrywhose economy is growing quickly, and which has substantialpolitical weight in Europe by now, sometimes higher than Italy’s,the government has promoted a public debate on how to advancegrowth and improve society from now to 2030.

Italy, which has proved to be stronger than expected andstronger than other countries up to now, continues to have seriousproblems with the financial crisis of slow growth and lowcompetitiveness, combined with an economic and social structurethat tends to give the burden of the consequences of these problemsto young people and the weakest parts of the population.

A future must be built with goodwill: an inertial future isnot encouraging. But what future is Italian public debatediscussing? It is not 2030. The only future date that involvesspecific commitment developed at an international level withsanctions is 2015, the date of the Milan Expo. As for the rest, forthe country as a whole, the field of vision does not seem, orrather, did not seem, to go beyond 2013, the scheduled date of thenext elections.

Today the horizon seems to be cut even shorter: the farthesthorizon is 14 December 2010. In the past, Europe had offered toanchor Italy to future dates with serious commitments andsanctions: this was the case with the 1992 project for creating asingle market, this was the case with the single currency projectand its eager and successful pursuit.

Then Europe no longer offered these opportunities until thisyear, when, with the launch of the “Europe 2020″ strategy, eachcountry was asked to present their own national reform plan to theEuropean Commission by this November. Unfortunately, it cannot besaid that there has been attention in public debate in recentmonths on the topic of what Italy would like to be in 2020.Therefore, the occasion has not yet been utilized to encourageItalian society not to close its eyes on its ownfuture.”

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