Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

by Adam Tooze

Trichet and Draghi suggested that the Italian government should invoke the decree powers of Article 77 of the Italian constitution, which allowed executive action “in cases of extraordinary need and urgency.” Originally designed to counter the specter of Communist insurrection during the cold war, Article 77 was a legal fig leaf that had been repeatedly invoked since the 1970s to cover “emergency measures.”9 Its overuse had been criticized by the Italian courts. If Berlusconi was worried about the legality of these proceedings, Trichet and Draghi advised that he should apply retrospectively for parliamentary sanction. Perhaps not surprisingly, legally minded members of Berlusconi’s cabinet wondered whether it was their malodorous prime minister or Draghi and Trichet who posed the greater risk to the rule of law.