The British media has been awash this week with articles proclaiming Britain to be the “new Italy”, as the UK plunges deeper into political chaos and economic turmoil.

Most recently, on Thursday, UK publication The Economist drew the ire of the Italian ambassador with a cover story titled ‘Welcome to Britaly’, suggesting that the British economy is now just like Italy’s – due to high levels of public debt and sluggish economic growth.

READ ALSO: ‘Spaghetti and pizza’: Italy’s UK ambassador slams Economist over ‘stereotyping’

The Economist also described Italy as the land of “la dolce vita” and “interminable political drama”, and suggested that Britain prefers to see itself as being on par with the US, France, or Germany.

But, like the Italian ambassador, many political and economic experts argue that the stereotype of Italy as Europe’s debt-ridden economic basket case is as tired and outdated as the pizza and pasta imagery used to illustrate The Economist’s cover this week.

If we must compare the two countries, Italy looks a lot more stable at the moment. Here’s why:

Italian prime ministers last longer than Liz Truss

UK media has pointed to the ongoing chaos within the Conservative Party as an example of the supposed ‘Italianisation’ of British politics. Some British media outlets repeated their UK-Italy comparisons after Liz Truss on Thursday resigned as Tory leader after 44 days in office, triggering the party’s third leadership contest in as many years.

Some say the comparisons are inevitable, as Italy is known for changing governments and prime ministers frequently: the country has had 14 prime ministers and 19 different governments in the last 30 years. That’s a new prime minister almost every two years on average and a new government every 18 months. 

But, aside from the fact that this changeability is an integral feature of Italy’s political system and not an anomaly (more on that below) the UK has now topped Italy – and a lot of other countries – when it comes to the record for shortest-serving prime minister.

The record for shortest time in office in Italy’s postwar history stands at 102 days – held by fascist politician Amintore Fanfani, who was prime minister six times in total. This last short stint in office was in 1954.

Italy’s current prime minister Mario Draghi is about to step down after racking up one year and 250 days in office, which is slightly longer than average for Italy.

The myth of stability here and instability there has been wrong for a long time. Since 2005 the UK had 9 Chancellors (Italy 10), 10 Home Secretaries (Italy 10), 6 Prime Ministers (Italy 9), 5 general elections (Italy 5). #Britaly @TheEconomist pic.twitter.com/30hS5oaYJt

— Andrea Bernardi (@Bernardi_UK) October 20, 2022

Italy’s economic situation isn’t getting worse

As The Economist pointed out, both countries are struggling with limited economic growth and are perceived as risky by investors. But for very different reasons.

Financial Times economics reporter Valentina Romei on Thursday detailed the considerable differences between the two nations’ economic situations in an article titled ‘Britaly? You wish’, noting that unlike the UK, “Italy has been running a budget surplus similar to that of Germany. It has showed much more frugality than the UK, and of the average of the most industrialised countries.”

Romei pointed out in a tweet: “Italy’s economic growth is limited by structural problems, but the UK’s performance is hit by political choices.”

She also noted that “Investors perceive Italy as risky as the UK, but for Italy, this is because of the legacy of a public debt accumulated during the ’80s.”

“For the UK it’s because of its shambolic present.”

#Italy's economic growth is limited by structural problems, but the #UK's performance is hit by political choices. @TheEconomist's cover is not helping the discussion pic.twitter.com/vqH5YKMqzx

— Valentina Romei (@valentinaromei) October 20, 2022

While the UK’s troubles have recently worsened, Italy today appears to be on the path towards economic growth.

For the past 20 months, Prime Minister Mario Draghi has been pursuing EU-backed policies aimed at ensuring economic growth and stability – and political commentators say the next government will likely have little choice but to continue with the plans he has set in place.

Italy has huge amounts of EU money on the line. It is awaiting nearly 200 billion euros in grants and loans – the country’s massive share of the EU coronavirus recovery fund package.

In order to secure each instalment, the Italian government must deliver on a long list of commitments to structural reform, and cut back on spending begun by previous administrations.

While markets reacted nervously to the far-right election win in Italy at the end of September, these jitters were vastly overshadowed by the pound plunging in response to the doomed mini-budget announcement in the UK.

Comparing UK to Italy & Greece is a bit unfair on Italy & Greece

Mitsotakis & Draghi have been serious, competent economic reformers. For now, Meloni looks like she'll follow Draghi's path

Turkey a better comparison – Erdogan is a big believer in "unorthodox" economic policies https://t.co/87kkdE0v43

— Mujtaba Rahman (@Mij_Europe) October 16, 2022

Italian politics isn’t getting more chaotic

Understandable comparisons were drawn this summer after Italy’s government collapsed, leading to snap elections, at the same time as the UK faced (and continues to face) one political crisis after another.

But while such instability is unusual in the UK and the current situation looks like a particularly low point in modern British political history, recent events in Italy are nothing new or particularly surprising.

Short-lived governments have been an enduring feature throughout the country’s postwar history. In fact, this apparent chaos is not a bug but a purpose-built feature of the Italian system.

Italy’s electoral system and Constitution were designed, after World War Two and the fall of Mussolini’s Fascist regime, with the aim of keeping extremists from seizing too much power.

Because of the way the system works (see an explanation of that here) Italian governments must necessarily be coalitions between two or more of the country’s many political parties. 

If there’s not a consensus between coalition partners over any policy, one party can withdraw support at any time – meaning the government falls, leading to either the creation of a technocratic government (there have been four of these since 1993, including Draghi’s) or an early election.

READ ALSO: Why do Italy’s governments collapse so often?

Not to say voters don’t find all of this tedious or infuriating, but the system does make it very difficult for any party to enact major changes without a broad consensus – preventing extreme ideologies from dictating government policy, and so arguably ensuring more stability over the long term.

Italy has a strong Constitution

It’s often hard to compare the Italian and British political systems in any meaningful way since they’re constitutionally very different.

But if we’re talking about stability, the Italian political system, while it has its faults, is well-equipped to curb the excesses of individual politicians or parties.

Italy is a democratic republic based on a strong Constitution, which governments are bound by and which is upheld by the Constitutional Court.

The presidential position is also important in ensuring stability. While mostly ceremonial, the position is vital in times of political crisis. The president is empowered to appoint prime ministers if there’s no consensus between parties: that’s how Mario Draghi became prime minister, asked by Mattarella to guide Italy through the pandemic and economic fallout.

And the Italian political system shares power widely between various institutions, which are not always necessarily working in line with the government of the day.

Italy is in the EU

Whichever side of the Brexit debate you’re on, it’s obvious that the massive upheaval and cost involved in leaving the European Union has done nothing to improve the UK’s current economic situation.

While the rest of Europe is also facing an economic downturn due to factors ranging from the war in Ukraine to the after-effects of the pandemic, economists agree the fallout from Brexit is deepening the financial crisis in the UK.

Brexit has hit the UK economy harder than the pandemic, according to, among others, the head of the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility, and the broad consensus among economists is that Brexit is likely to continue to harm the UK’s economic outlook and reduce per capita income in the long term.

The impact of leaving the EU is obviously not a problem Italy has to deal with.

And being in the EU means Italy’s budget laws are subject to intense scrutiny from the European Commission – now more than ever due to Italy’s agreements with Brussels over the recovery fund – as well as Italian institutions.

While this means passing a budget becomes an arduous, drawn-out process, usually subject to countless amendments, it also makes it much more difficult for an Italian prime minister to simply announce economically destabilising policies like – just to take one example – massive unfunded tax cuts for the rich, without any institutional oversight.