Same Old, Same Old.(World Affairs)

Byline: William Underhill; With Jacopo Barigazzi in Milan

Italy's political leaders are older than most, which helps explain the slow, shuffling pace of change.

At 82, Giorgio Napolitano might be contemplating a quiet end to an eventful life. As a student, he fought against the Fascists. As an adult politician, he was a powerful figure in the Italian left for more than 40 years. Enough for one lifetime? Not for Napolitano, the president of the Italian republic. He still has six more years to serve, and he is just one of many Italian lawmakers who were teenagers when Mussolini ruled the land. In Italy, it seems the reward for longevity is high office, and as a result the political leadership is perennially far older than counterparts elsewhere. Prime Minister Romano Prodi is 68, and is currently squaring off against opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi, 71, at a time when high-office holders elsewhere in Europe seem to be getting younger. Consider Nicolas Sarkozy, who is 52; Angela Merkel, 53; Gordon Brown, 56, and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, 47.

The preponderance of gray-haired legislators mirrors Italy's own age profile. The country is now aging faster than any other in Europe. More than half the population is over 40 and almost one in five is over 65. By 2050, there is expected to be one pensioner for every two people of working age. The political culture has ossified at a similar pace, doing little to lift a sluggish economy, and while parties and titles may change, the faces remain the same. Prodi has been around for more than a decade. His Interior minister, Giuliano Amato, is now 69, and also served as prime minister. Yet another former prime minister, Giulio Andreotti, still contributes to political life at 88 as a senator for life. Earlier this year, he triggered a government crisis when he failed to support Prodi on a foreign-policy vote over Italian troops in Afghanistan. And like Andreotti, many of those blamed for Italy's economic woes back in the '80s remain active today. Much of the political thinking from the left is stuck in bygone eras as well, particularly when it comes to labor reform and economic policies. "Many of our politicians still apply an interpretation of reality that dates back to the 1970s," says Giovanni Canepa of the Rome think tank Glocus. "They are still talking in terms of the class struggle."

The policies that emerge from this ...