Although the war in the Far East was far away, it still had a huge impact on Italy.
After all, who can care less when their own country's army is fighting thousands of miles away?
However, unlike ordinary people who are concerned about the war and the safety of the soldiers participating in the war, Italian capitalists can open champagne to celebrate. The war that broke out in the Far East was initially a disadvantage to them. After all, war will lead to a decline in business, unless you do
It's the arms business.
However, as Italy got involved, these capitalists suddenly found that business was easier to do. People from the Qing Dynasty were very happy to buy their products as long as they were not outrageous, especially the officials. This made the Italians less likely to do business.
Affected, on the contrary, it has become more prosperous. As for whether it is an order grabbed from businessmen in other countries, it is none of their business. Who can control where others buy.
Even if the public is paying attention to the war situation in the Far East, the Italian government is naturally paying more attention to it. As a war to relieve Italy's financial pressure and make profits for the military, the Italian government paid more attention to the Sino-Japanese War than the war in Ethiopia.
No, as the head of the government, Prime Minister Despretis is very busy, because in addition to paying attention to government work, he also needs to cooperate with the military in the deployment of materials and personnel for the war in the Far East. This kind of thing must be quite
Note, if you are not careful, you may get cheated by the military. They are all poor people. If you can get more for yourself, who can't know who is who?
"Prime Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent news that the British finally released Fleet K, which is currently passing through the Suez Canal."
"Tell the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send someone to guard Suez so that we can't be stopped and inspected by the British again. If necessary, we should be tougher."
"Okay, Prime Minister."
"Is there anything else?"
"In addition, the Navy Ministry sent a message that they hope the government will help them organize another fleet. Vice Admiral Alvaro's fleet is in urgent need of a batch of maintenance facilities and equipment. I hope we can give a reply within three days."
"Well, send this news to the Ministry of Transportation and ask them to recruit another batch of ships. Also inform the Navy Department that they need to pay for the expenses."
"Also, the Ministry of Education sent news that they want to..."
In the next two hours, Prime Minister Despretis kept issuing instructions to various departments. Although some of them required a brief moment of reflection, they still did not affect the Prime Minister who has been in power for more than ten years.
Old man. Yes, if Prime Minister Despretis, who is now 81 years old, is not considered an old man, then there are not many people in Italy who can be called old people.
As an elderly prime minister, Despretis has felt increasingly exhausted in the past two years.
Therefore, after dealing with the urgent matters, the Prime Minister, who felt low on energy, needed to take a nap to regain his energy.
"Prime Minister, Mr. Neil Napper has arrived."
Secretary Usopp whispered into the Prime Minister's ear. When he heard the secretary's words, Depretis's cloudy eyes flashed with light.
"Got it, invite Mr. Napper in."
After Prime Minister Depretis finished speaking, he stood up and came to his desk.
"Prime Minister, Mr. Napper has arrived."
Following Secretary Usopp, the short and somewhat bald Napper appeared in front of him.
"Napel, long time no see!"
Prime Minister Despretis opened his arms and stepped forward to hug the visitor. Seeing the Prime Minister's expression as if he had met a friend, the clever Usopp naturally left the room and thoughtfully closed the door when he left.
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After his secretary left, Prime Minister Despretis suddenly put on a serious expression.
"How's the situation?"
"It can't be said to be too smooth. Cavalotti accepted the Prime Minister's proposal and was willing to promote it in Parliament, while Bertani was a little hesitant. He thought it would be difficult to push the proposal through. In addition, Crispi said that this kind of proposal is the best
It is better to vote after discussing with others to avoid misjudgment."
The three people mentioned by Napel are all three people who have enough weight in the parliament and can influence the voting results of the parliament. Among them, Cavalotti is the leader of the Republican Party. The Republican Party, as its name implies, seeks the most republican system, so it is against De Preti
I am very interested in the proposal of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, and Bertany is a moderate of the same political party as the Prime Minister. Although they both belong to the Social Democratic Party, they have considerable differences, but I want to say
It is not difficult for Prime Minister Despretis to convince the other party. The only one who is more difficult is Crispi, which is a centrist faction in the parliament. Although it does not have too many parliamentary seats, it wants to achieve success.
But they cannot be left out. After all, compared to the right-wingers who are too deeply involved in the royal family, Depretis is still more willing to deal with the centrists. Especially the proposal he prepared this time requires the support of the centrists.
What proposal makes Despretis, who has served as prime minister for more than ten years, still find it difficult to handle?
Of course it is a big event, a big event related to the interests of a political party. Is the modification of the conditions for voting rights a big event?
For all those who play politics, certainly.
No event attracts political parties more than this.
Despretis, who has been Prime Minister for more than ten years, wants to modify some of these provisions. However, the core of this modification is to relax the conditions for obtaining the right to vote in Italy. He plans to change the age requirement for obtaining the right to vote from 25 years old.
Relaxation to the age of 21, and more importantly, the conditions for obtaining electoral qualifications are reduced from annual tax payment of 40 lire to 18 lire.
Apparently, this prime minister is also very ambitious and wants to gradually change Italy's political foundation.
Yes, although Despretis got along well with King Carlo I, and he also recognized that King Carlo was a very far-sighted ruler. But it still cannot change the fact that Despretis was a politician
, What is a politician? He needs to be responsible for overall political decisions. And Italy's current political system, De Pretis thinks, is very unreasonable.
It seems that the Kingdom of Italy implements a responsible cabinet system, and the prime minister needs to be responsible to the king and parliament. But in fact, the parliament is currently an eraser, and the king is the one who actually holds power. In the long run, under this system, people’s participation in politics will be limited.
Enthusiasm will be suppressed, which is not conducive to Italy's development.
The best way to change this situation is to change the kingdom into a republic. However, this condition is not currently feasible in Italy, and the king is still enthusiastically supported.
Since this approach is not possible, we need to change our thinking. Expanding the number of people who have the right to vote is the best way.
Speaking of which, thanks to Italy's rapid economic development in recent years, the number of citizens with the right to vote has more than doubled from 2.89% of the total population when he came to power to 6.27%.
Although it has doubled, what is the use of a low base? It has only increased from more than 900,000 to more than 2 million. It is still not representative in the face of a total population of more than 32 million. The role of parliament is too low or it has too few rights.
It has a lot to do with the size of the population it represents.
According to estimates, the election conditions modified by Depretis may increase the number of people with the right to vote from 6.27 to about 13%, which is more than double. If their family members are included, it will at least allow the number of representatives in the parliament to reach one-third.
As an Italian, this importance is immediately apparent.
However, although this kind of thing is beneficial to all political parties, it is not easy to implement at all, because it will infringe on the rights of many people. For example, nobles and kings, this is what Depretis is most worried about.
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Having been with the young king for more than ten years, Depretis may have understood the young man's fascination with power better than the king himself. He had not tested the king before and asked him to increase the proportion of people's political participation, but he was always ignored by the young king.
The king was fooled.
This time he planned to change his approach.
"Cavalotti agreed. As I expected, Bertani is a little hesitant. I will find a time to talk to him. As for Crispi, you can give him a message for me. The conditions are whatever he wants, as long as he is willing to
Vote yes during the vote in Parliament.”
After listening to the method given by Despretis, Napel buried his head in writing it down.
"Okay, I'll go find Crispi tonight."
After speaking, Napper stood up and was about to leave.
"Napel!"
At this time, Prime Minister Despretis suddenly stopped him.
"Do you have any other explanations, old man?"
"Remember to be careful, this matter must be hidden. Our young people have some hunting dogs with keen sense of smell."
"Don't worry, I know the seriousness of this kind of thing."
Napper made a knowing gesture.
After his old friends and comrades-in-arms left, Depretis was ready to get up to work. With so many things in the government, he didn't have much free time.
But the moment he just stood up, he felt a severe heartache. He quickly stretched out his hands to find a support point. At this time, a strong feeling of dizziness came over him. Then his vision went dark and he fell heavily.
On the ground.
Before he fell into coma, he heard his secretary yelling in horror: "Call the doctor quickly! Call the doctor quickly!"
