Napolitano stands tall among Italy's selfish politicians For the past 15 years, there has been little good to say about Italy's economic performance, and even less about the quality of Italian political life. Yet one Italian institution emerges with its reputation unscathed - and even strengthened - from this long spell of incompetence, corruption and decline. I am speaking of the presidency. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who served as head of state from 1999-2006, and Giorgio Napolitano, his successor and the current president, have exemplified everything that is dignified, decent and honourable about their country. Their behaviour in office has put the squabbling and self-serving political classes to shame - and it has preserved respect for Italy among its allies and partners abroad. Now, Italian media report that Mr Napolitano, who is 89, is preparing to step down from the presidency at the end of the year. The timing sounds right: Italy will end its six-month term as head of the EU's rotating presidency on December 31. Mr Napolitano will not wish to go into a well-deserved retirement until he has made sure Italy has fulfilled all its latest responsibilities on the European stage. But the president's wisdom, courage and sense of public responsibility will be sorely missed in Italy- as well as abroad. A strong sense of duty is one reason why Mr Napolitano, like Mr Ciampi, is such a respected figure. There are parallels with Queen Elizabeth II's tireless devotion to her role as Britain's head of state. But Italy's constitution, unlike the unwritten one of Britain, permits the president to make discreet and not so discreet interventions in political life. He (there has yet to be a she) appoints the prime minister, dissolves parliament, calls elections and has the power to block legislation temporarily. If he chooses, he may deliver quite strongly worded statements on various aspects of national life. In this regard Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Italy's president from 1992-1999, sometimes went too far. His clumsiness meant that he never won the trust and affection of the Italian public in the manner of Mr Ciampi and Mr Napolitano. Over the past six years or so, Mr Napolitano has been crucial to Italy's political stability. With the eurozone debt crisis at its height, he performed an inestimable service in November 2011 by doing everything within his constitutional power to ensure the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister. If the feckless Mr Berlusconi had stayed in power much longer, Italy might well have fallen over the precipice - and how could the euro have survived that? In April 2013 Mr Napolitano, much against his own wishes, agreed to be re-elected to the presidency after a breathtaking display of selfishness and stupidity by Italy's new parliament that had prevented the election of other candidates. Once again, he put the nation before himself. Mr Napolitano's statesman-like qualities were apparent to non-Italians long before he assumed the presidency. He was the key figure in the Italian Communist Party with whom US diplomats opened contacts in the late 1970s at an earlier time of high political drama in Italy. The Americans understood that communism, like spaghetti, took different forms in Italy- and that Mr Napolitano was, first and foremost, a democrat and a patriot with a proud anti-fascist past. Italy's friends must hope from the bottom of their hearts that the next president performs as well in office as Mr Napolitano has done. For Italy's economy and public finances are still deep in crisis, and politics at all levels is still defined by irresponsibility and misconduct. It is hard to believe that Italy can avoid the consequences of its failings forever.