Displaying items by tag: Italy

Italy’s Five Star Movement is plotting with similar groups in Poland, Croatia, and Finland to shake up the EU and end Brussels control. Luigi di Maio, leader of the anti-establishment party, is meeting with a number of emerging movements across Europe to create a ‘group of direct democracy’ to challenge the ‘current crop of elitist EU parties’. He will also call on the so-called ‘yellow vest’ movement, which has threatened to sink Emmanuel Macron’s reign as French president, to help spearhead the people’s revolution in Brussels, according to Laura Agea, Five Star’s most senior figure in the Belgian capital. She said, ‘Our goal is to be decisive for the next European Parliament. We will focus on direct democracy, the health of citizens, fighting poverty, and defending the excellence of Made in Europe.’

Mount Etna volcano is restless, with small earthquakes and steam emissions continuing for six days. Aerial footage by emergency services has revealed the scale of the damage from the two earthquakes (4.3 and 4.8 magnitude) which injured 28 people and left 600 homeless across a broad area near Catania, one of the most densely populated metropolitan districts in Sicily. More lava was being spewed out on 1 January: see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E42VCLuJC4I Strong gas and dense ash emissions have been rising, prompting frightened villagers to flee their homes. Italy's civil protection officials said that the quakes were part of a swarm of 1,000 tremors, most of them barely perceptible, that are linked to Etna's ongoing recent eruption.

Italy has refused to back down over its expansionary 2019 budget, which EU chiefs claim breaches previous spending agreements. The indebted nation at first unveiled plans for a deficit budget of 2.4% of GDP, three times the previous administration's target. The European Commission rejected the draft and demanded it be revised to a more realistic level. But the Italian government has so far refused to budge, saying the spending plans are in the best interest of the Italian people. Prime minister Salvini has even threatened to veto the next proposed eurozone budget, in retaliation. However, that budget will be available only to those countries which abide by EU rules about budget deficits and debt; so Italy could be left out in the cold if the dispute is not resolved.

After a motorway bridge collapsed in Genoa on 14 August, causing at least 39 deaths, prime minister Giuseppe Conte has declared a state of emergency for the region. As stories emerge of how some people miraculously escaped, attention has shifted to who (if anyone) might have been responsible for the disaster. Autostrade per l'Italia, which is responsible for the country’s motorways, has rejected accusations that it was making huge profits and not spending enough on maintenance. It says checks were carried out quarterly by world-leading experts and had shown no cause for alarm. Also, Brussels has dismissed claims by deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini that EU spending rules prevented the country from spending enough to keep its infrastructure safe. A spokesman stated that in fact, the EU has encouraged investment in infrastructure in Italy. See

The Italian government recently closed its ports to rescue ships, arguing Italy had taken its fair share of refugees. This week Brussels announced plans to pay EU countries £5,350 to take a refugee, and the Italian foreign minister agreed to allow EU ships carrying rescued migrants to dock at Italian ports (but only for a five-week period). Unfortunately, the interior minister said, ‘If they want to give money to someone else they can do so - Italy doesn’t need charity.’ Italy demands a revision of EU’s anti-trafficking mission in the Mediterranean, as currently rescued migrants automatically disembark at Italian ports.

Gale-force winds tore through seaside communities close to Athens, fanning the flames which have left a trail of death and destruction. Coastguards saved 700+ people who fled to the sea during the night of 23/24 July. The region is popular with tourists, particularly pensioners and children at holiday camps. By 26 July the death toll from Greece’s forest fires had reached 83, expected to rise as rescuers search the disaster zone where dozens are still missing. ‘We all have pain’, sighed 67-year-old Maria who had lost her six-month-old grandson, two cousins, their children and all of her worldly possessions. Her daughter Margarita is fighting for her life. ‘My grandson hadn’t even been baptised. He died in Margarita’s arms, and now she is in intensive care.’ ‘God doesn’t give us the words to describe such things’, said one woman who survived the disaster because she was visiting doctors in Athens with her husband.

In a dusty Roma camp, life goes on despite threats of an ethnically-targeted census and deportation by Italy's new hardline interior minister Matteo Salvini, who recently refused to take in a rescue ship carrying 630 migrants. He intends to throw out Roma people without legal status. His call was blasted as ‘unconstitutional’ by rights groups and criticised by members of his own government. Some are drawing parallels with measures targeting Jews under fascist wartime leader Benito Mussolini. ‘If Salvini comes here, we will welcome him with kindness. He needs to see how we live’, says Habibi Mehmedi, a teenager in a camp outside Rome's main ring-road - away from the eyes of the office workers and tourists. ‘Some do bad things, but most of us are Italian and have not committed any crimes.’ Despite the Roma community making up at most 0.3% of Italy's population, they are subject to extreme hostility from the general public. The Joshua Project states that the Italian Roma people’s primary religion is Christianity.

Following difficult negotiations after the 4th March election Italy has agreed to have a coalition government. Ministers are drawn from both the anti-establishment Five Star (M5S) and the right-wing League. Their newly chosen minister, Giovanni Tria, is in favour of Italy's continued membership of the single currency. But the populists' conflict with the EU is not entirely over. The M5S and the League have promised both new welfare spending and also tax cuts - which may run into conflict with the EU's spending rules.Army general Vincenzo Santo believes 80% of the flow of Mediterranean migrants is controlled from Italy’s coastlines by its Mafia. With a new government pray that the migration issues will be dealt with. Many are anxious about immigration and afraid of migrants. Italians no longer trust in the EU protection of borders, the principle of Schengen zone and the solidarity principle in general. See

Clashes between anti-fascist and far-right activists have increased ahead of a general election on 4 March. Recently, police in Milan used batons as left-wing demonstrators tried to break through a police cordon. The Anti-immigration League party leader, Matteo Salvini, told supporters that defence of the country was a ‘sacred duty’. There have been protests in Milan, Rome and Palermo as campaigning enters its final week. The right-wing Forza Italia party, backed by 81-year-old Silvio Berlusconi, could be in the lead. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement opposes Berlusconi, as does the far-right League and the Brothers of Italy parties. Former prime minister Matteo Renzi joined a National Partisans organisation with the slogan ‘Fascism Never Again’.

Faiez Serraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, has said that Europe is at risk from terrorists posing as migrants unless western capitals help Libya stem the numbers crossing the Mediterranean. He claimed that would-be terrorists were among the tens of thousands of people passing unvetted into Italy across its open southern borders. If this is the case, all the EU will be affected. His comments follow last week’s terrorist attacks in Spain, which police have linked to radical groups in North Africa. Nearly 98,000 migrants have crossed from Libya to Italy this year, almost as many as last year, and there are at least another 700,000 in the country. There is clear evidence of a modern-day slave trade on these routes, and Italy’s social and democratic fabric is under threat amid growing public intolerance to migrants.