Despite not holding an official cabinet position, Silvio Berlusconi will exert a great deal of influence over Italy’s newly-formed government.
EPA/Pier Paolo Ferreri
Under the leadership of re-elected president Giorgio Napolitano, a “grand coalition” of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and the centre-right coalition of parties – headed by Silvio Berlusconi – has…
Beppe Grillo could be a victim of his own success.
EPA/Massimo Percossi
“Paris is worth a mass”, replied my friend, citing Henry IV’s probably apocryphal comment on his conversion to Catholicism in order to break the religious impasse in sixteenth-century France.
She was…
Leader of the Five Star movement, Beppe Grillo, rode a wave of unexpected popularity to obtain one quarter of the votes in Italy’s House of Representatives.
AAP
The economic troubles of Italy are largely homegrown. Some might argue that they have been made worse by the fiscal austerity measures adopted under pressure from the European Union. But the truth is that…
Former Italian Prime Minister and leader of the People of Freedom party Silvio Berlusconi’s comeback has left Italy with a hung parliament.
Mike Palazzotto/EPA
A Berlusconi led right-wing coalition has delivered a shock in the Italian elections, taking 30% of the vote and winning the senate in the key regions of Lombardy, Sicily and Veneto. Berlusconi was trailing…
Regardless of who wins the 2013 election, citizens and commentators alike are pessimistic about Italy’s economic outlook.
AAP
Italy has had several crucial elections in the past. In 1946, right after the end of World War II, citizens were called to decide between Republic and Monarchy. Two years later, the 1948 general election…
Italy is in an economic and political mess, with or without the leadership of Mario Monti (pictured), who announced his resignation this week.
AAP
For a little longer than a year, the “technical” government of Mario Monti was supported by a vast and heterogeneous coalition: the centre-right People of Freedom Party of Silvio Berlusconi (PDL), the…
The families of the interned men of the Caminiti clan in Queensland, circa 1940.
Supplied
When Fascist Italy declared war on Britain in mid-1940, almost 5,000 Italians living in Australia were imprisoned in internment camps. Few Italian families escaped the human cost of detention as “enemy…
Germany’s triple A rating has been given a negative outlook by ratings agency Moody’s, amid ongoing woes in Greece, Spain and Italy.
AAP
On 23 July, the rating agency Moody’s put the triple A debt of Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg on a negative outlook. The day after, the outlook on the European Financial Stability Fund was also…
Will super Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, come to the Eurozone’s rescue?
AAP
By Harald Sander, Cologne University of Applied Sciences (CUAS)
Today Eurozone leaders will meet in Brussels. On the agenda is nothing less than the survival of the euro. Officially, it is about Spain: Spain’s economic and financial woes show the urgency. Moody’s drastically…
Economic policies – not credit ratings – will determine the future of the euro.
AAP
The decision by Standard and Poor’s to downgrade the debt of nine Eurozone countries last week, followed by the inevitable downgrade of the Eurozone rescue fund two days later, raises important questions…
Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece face serious problems without EU-wide financial reform.
AAP
Every year, on the evening of December 31, the President of the Republic of Italy addresses the Italian people with a video message broadcast by all the major radio and television networks. This “end of…
Merkel, Sarkozy and Monti must accept drastic fiscal reforms if they want to save the Eurozone.
The announcement by credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s overnight that it could downgrade the triple-A rating of Europe’s debt rescue fund has battered market confidence, which had been buoyed…
Italian-Australians deserve an apology for their mistreatment in internment camps in World War II.
Australian War Memorial Collection
Last month, the South Australian parliament unanimously accepted a bi-partisan motion moved by Labor member, Tony Piccolo, to acknowledge the wrongful internment of Italian civilians living in Australia…
Despite happy appearances, the two leaders disagree the way out of the Eurozone crisis.
AAP
What could be a decisive week for Europe and its common currency has begun, with the announcement of a package of fiscal austerity measures in Italy.
Markets, European partners, and – perhaps above all…
The European Central Bank needs to start buying more bonds from Eurozone countries.
Images_of_Money
The departure of Silvio Berlusconi does not seem to have eased the pressure on Italy, with reports suggesting the International Monetary Fund is reading a 600 billion euro emergency bailout for the Eurozone…
Mussolini made the trains run on time. But having a strong leader is risky.
Flickr/Galaxy FM
“If I Ruled The World” was a tune made famous decades ago by English comedian and singer Harry Secombe who sang of making every day the first day of spring as well as other miraculous improvements. It…
The eurozone crisis is moving beyond “spendthrift” countries in need of rescue, to the rescuers themselves.
AAP
By Harald Sander, Cologne University of Applied Sciences (CUAS)
Early this week, sovereign bonds spreads for France and other Euro-core countries peaked.
Around noon on Tuesday the spreads on French and Austrian 10-year government bonds exceeded the German bund rate…
Former EU commissioner Mario Monti will form government in Italy as Silvio Berlusconi exits.
AAP
Is the Eurozone about to crash and burn, leaving Club Med in its wake? Not so fast.
Reports have suggested that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have discussed a strategic…
Italy’s debt woes will not disappear after Berlusconi finally steps down.
AAP
Global markets have tumbled in the past 24 hours on fears over Italy’s worsening debt crisis, with media reports that Germany and France have begun talks to break up the Eurozone if the monetary union…
Berlusconi’s resignation is one step towards solving Italy’s debt crisis – but many more are needed.
AAP
Italy’s sovereign debt crisis has been overshadowed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s reluctant promise to resign after the country’s parliament made clear he no longer commanded a majority.
Italy…
Italy’s disturbing debt-to-GDP ratio has been decades in the making.
AAP
During prostests in Rome last month, as groups of hooded protesters clashed with the police, set cars on fire, and smashed bank windows around the Piazza San Giovanni, two large speakers installed on a…
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s austerity measures are misdirected and too dramatic.
AAP
The move by international ratings agency Moody’s to cut Italy’s credit rating for the first time in two decades will do little to ease concerns about the Eurozone’s debt crisis, despite global markets…
Silvio Berlusconi has blamed international economic conditions for Italy’s worsening crisis.
AAP
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s reassurance to his parliamentary colleagues during a speech on Wednesday did little allay
about fears of a crisis in Eurozone’s third-biggest economy.
The Italian…
Nicolas Sarkozy, Christine Lagarde and Angela Merkel share a joke at Thursday’s Greece bailout talks.
AAP
European leaders signed off on a second, 109 billion euro bailout for Greece overnight, while also establishing what has been described as an “infant monetary fund” to intervene if the bloc’s sovereign…
