German Hypocrisy (and more)

If hypocrisy were officially included among the deadly sins, the gates of Heaven would remain desolately closed for lack of customers. Hell, on the other hand, would record the sold out, populated largely by those who spend their lives setting themselves up as champions of morality and faith. One almost suspects that the seven deadly sins have been restricted precisely to avoid displeasing the higher echelons of politics and institutions.

Recent news presents us with yet another masterpiece of theatrical balancing act. Jens Spahn, gay and married to a man, conservative and leader of the German CDU, he was forced to resign. The controversy erupted over her use of surrogacy to conceive a child with her husband; a practice banned in Germany and one that Spahn himself has always publicly condemned, using conservative slogans. The short circuit lies entirely in the vast gap between his propaganda and his private choices.

But Germany is a generous land when it comes to paradoxes. Not far from him we find Alice Weidel, co-president of AfD, the ultra-conservative party that made the triptych “God, Country and Traditional Family” her own hobbyhorse. The leader has established her residence in Switzerland with her partner, originally from Sri Lanka, with whom she raises two children. A modern, transnational family picture, perfect for anyone except the leader of a movement that makes closing borders and rejecting diversity its electoral cornerstone.

The separation between private life and political action would be a sacrosanct principle. It becomes indecent when the public sphere is used to deny others the same rights enjoyed privately, exploiting the cultural distraction of an increasingly manipulable mass.

The Great Circus of European Incoherence

This mental gymnastics knows no borders or political banners. If we broaden our gaze to the rest of Europe, the catalogue of contradictions becomes encyclopedic.

Moving to Spain, we meet the socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez. For years, he built his political narrative on public ethics, transparency, and the moral superiority of the left over supposedly opposing business committees. All of this shook when his wife, Begoña Gómez, ended up under investigation for corruption and illicit influence peddling. The prime minister's reaction was exquisitely theatrical: five days of “spiritual retreat” and suspension of activities to reflect on his resignation, culminating in a return to the scene as the victim of an alleged judicial smear campaign. The purity of the law applies to everyone, except when it knocks on your door.

In Brussels, however, the curtain rose on Qatargate, overwhelming figures like former MEP Antonio Panzeri and Eva Kaili. For years, they embodied the progressive, upright left, and the guardian of global human rights. The searches later revealed bags full of banknotes and cash, exposing a system of favors funded by authoritarian regimes like Qatar and Morocco. The champions of the oppressed were revealed to be lobbyists with a meter.

It is impossible to forget Hungarian. József Szájer, a staunch supporter of Viktor Orbán and a proud author of the constitution that sealed the country against LGBT rights. His political career ended in Brussels, when police caught him climbing down a drainpipe to escape a clandestine private party for men. A tragicomic epilogue for someone who had turned homophobia into law.

Italian-Style Domestic Sovereignty

In Italy, the management of the paradox has reached artistic heights. The local right has built an entire consensus on the defense of the “natural, indissoluble and traditional family”, erecting walls against any social evolution.

Leaders who preach this rigidity, however, display extremely fluid and modern personal biographies. Silvio Berlusconi He was a historical forerunner, a defender of Catholic values in public and the protagonist of a private life that redefined the concepts of divorce and relationships. Matteo Salvini, who often displayed rosaries and invoked the Immaculate Heart of Mary from the stages, boasts a personal history marked by failed marriages, children born from different relationships and new cohabitations. The same Georgia Meloni, an undisputed champion of the traditional family, governs as an unmarried mother, having also faced a highly publicized separation from her partner Andrea Giambruno.

These are legitimate, respectable lifestyle choices that reflect the times. They become derailed when those same leaders use legislative power to limit the rights and protections of other families who don't fit the ideal model.

The Elite Left and the Social Radar

On the other side of the fence, the show maintains extremely high standards. The Italian left constantly oscillates between ideological maximalism and the comfort of its social status.

The case of Aboubakar Soumahoro He remains emblematic. Having entered Parliament in muddy boots, a symbol of the fight against gangmastering and the exploitation of agricultural workers, he saw his credibility crumble amid investigations into the cooperatives run by his wife and mother-in-law. While he advocated for the rights of the poorest, workers in his immediate family complained of unpaid wages and degrading conditions, all while his wife flaunted an extremely luxurious wardrobe on social media.

No less singular is the parable of Elly Schlein. The secretary of the Democratic Party promised to bring the left back to the workers and the forgotten suburbs. She then chose the glossy pages of Vogue to reveal to the world that she uses an expert image consultant in color harmony, paid up to three hundred euros an hour to choose the right colors for her coats. A detail that perfectly describes a leftist movement that has replaced poverty analysis with attention to color nuance, speaking to workers from the living rooms of the historic center.

The manipulative art of politics has reached levels of absolute excellence. Rigid dogmas are sold to the public to garner votes, while in private, nuance and maximum personal freedom are chosen. Consistency has become a luxury for the few, or perhaps a nuisance to be eliminated so as not to disturb others. the consensus algorithm.

I look at this miniature of the circle of hypocrites and I can't help but think that Dante, seven centuries ago, had it all figured out. Aren't the golden cloaks outside and leaden cloaks inside the same glittering slogans that today conceal the weight of daily inconsistency? Perhaps, more than in paradise, these politicians would feel more at home in this hell, among golden cloaks and gutters to climb down.