ITALY AFTER MAASTRICHT: CHALLENGES OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN THE 1990S.

Abstract

The article examines the impact of the signing of the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, the foundation of the EU, on political and economic processes in Italy in the 1990s. The transition from the EEC to a new form of European integration was the subject of a general political consensus. The question was raised about the influence of European integration on the 1992–1994 «Mani pulite» scandal, which was characterized by a series of trials against prominent officials and ended with the collapse of the old political system of the First Republic. As a result, Italy for the first time created a «technical government» under the former head of the Bank of Italy, C. A. Ciampi, which was a kind of temporary administration that launched the mechanism for implementing EU reforms. At the same time, a block of newly created Eurosceptic parties was consolidated in Italy. The block won the parliamentary elections, as a result of which a government led by S. Berlusconi was formed in 1994. Despite the anti-European statements declared by this government, it failed to stop the process of European integration. After the collapse of S. Berlusconi’s government in 1996, the pro-European coalition «Olive Tree», headed by R. Prodi, came to power. Thus, in the political system of the Second Republic (1994 – pr.t.), the issue of European integration became the main marker of division between various political forces, which lost the character of mass ideological parties of the 20th century and have become unstable personalist projects. The governments of the «Olive Tree» managed to give new impetus to European integration reforms, the main of which was the introduction of the euro instead of the national currency – the lira. This reform was perceived as an opportunity to renovate the Italian Republic as a consequence of strengthening the state apparatus, the program of privatization of the public sector of the economy, and a more cautious budget policy. The permission from the EU to switch to the euro since 1999 proved that, despite difficulties of a political and economic nature, Italy managed to carry out key reforms, and with the introduction of the euro instead of the national currency, the European integration of the country became an irreversible process.