Tag: Italy

Standard and Poor's cut its unsolicited ratings on Italy by one notch, warning of a deteriorating growth outlook and damaging political uncertainty, in a move that took markets by surprise and added to pressure on the debt-stressed eurozone.

The euro zone needs to get ahead of the curve in tackling its sovereign debt crisis, preventing it from infecting Italy, or else face disaster, the finance minister of Poland, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, said yesterday (8 September) at an economic forum in Krynica.

In a clear sign of rising market worries, the premium investors demand to buy Italian bonds rather than benchmark German debt widened on Monday (5 September), moving Italy firmly to the centre of the eurozone crisis. Meanwhile, the Italian parliament begins debating a much-criticised austerity package today.

As fighting in Tripoli continues and international leaders looked to ramp up pressure on Muammar Gaddafi to step down, oil companies tried yesterday (22 August) to secure investments in Libya.

The European Court of Justice confirmed yesterday (28 July) that the Italian switchover from analogue to digital TV has been illegally subsidised, favouring the channels of Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A mammoth reimbursement is now due by his Mediaset media empire.

Ireland's debt has been downgraded to junk status by rating agency Moody's, which said the country was likely to need further rounds of financing before it could return to international capital markets. Meanwhile, Italy's borrowing costs soared to their highest level in more than a decade, sparking new doubts about the euro zone's ability to right itself.

Although some amendments are required, the European Commission's proposal for a unitary patent is broadly acceptable to MEPs, according to European People's Party MEP Raffaele Baldassarre, the rapporteur in the European Parliament's legal affairs committee who will steer the proposals through the EU assembly.

Europe must be more assertive in its foreign policy, especially by unambiguously supporting the Arab revolutions, otherwise it risks wasting an historic opportunity which could later count against it, said former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

Financial markets piled pressure on heavily indebted eurozone countries on Monday (23 May) as rating agencies stoked new concerns over Italy and Belgium.

The EU is closing its doors ever tighter to immigrants and some of its leaders are betraying basic humanitarian principles, said Thomas Hammarberg, commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

A Brussels-based think-tank has slammed the way in which France and Italy are dealing with immigrants fleeing unrest in Northern Africa, labelling their actions a "shameful race to the bottom".

Italy and France will today (26 April) discuss changing rules that scrap border checks between EU countries, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy visits Rome seeking to ease tensions over North African immigration following the Arab revolutions.

Italy quarrelled with other European Union governments yesterday (11 April) over how to handle thousands of migrants fleeing violence in North Africa, while the EU executive urged the bloc to do more for the refugees.

Paris and Rome are playing "ping-pong" with thousands of immigrants who travel by boat from the North African coast to the Italian island of Lampedusa, after which most of them try to reach France, the press in the two countries reports.

The 20th Century brought great advances for gender equality all over Europe, argues the vice-president of Italian Senate, Emma Bonino, but much remains to be done, especially in Italy. In this exclusive interview with EurActiv, she suggests a few tools that could accelerate women's empowerment.

Italy faced criticism in the European Union on Thursday (24 February) for raising the alarm about a potential wave of refugees from Libya, with several governments saying Rome's calls for help in dealing with migrants were exaggerated.

An Italian judge has ordered Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial in April on a charge that he paid an underage girl for sex, though there appears to be no immediate risk that the scandal will force him from office.

Hundreds of thousands of women rallied in Rome and other cities yesterday (13 February), incensed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's sex scandals, which they say have disgraced Italy.

The European Parliament yesterday (3 February) urged the European Commission to strictly implement a Court of Justice ruling on the waste crisis in Campania, saying that Italy must comply with EU rules before funds can be released.

The Italian prime minister's economic strategies may have prevented dramatic falls in his popularity in the short-term but will eventually backfire, writes Tito Boeri, professor of economics at Bocconi University in Milan.

EU Commissioner Viviane Reding, responsible for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, yesterday (25 August) criticised the French authorities for seeking solutions to immigration problems and tackling the Roma issue outside of an EU context. She also indirectly condemned Italy for its "discriminatory" and "inflammatory" rhetoric.

UK Finance Minister George Osborne yesterday detailed 6.2 billion pounds (7 billion euros) of spending cuts. Meanwhile, austerity measures due to be approved by Italy's cabinet today (25 May) are expected to reduce the budget deficit by 24 billion euros over two years.

Italian energy company Edison is lobbying the European Commission for more support in upgrading existing infrastructure and building interconnectors from the Caspian to Italy, its representatives said on 26 April. This would allow the Nabucco gas pipeline to take over at a later stage, they claimed.

Italy said yesterday (25 February) that Libya may renege on a deal to control the flow of illegal immigrants over a visa spat with Switzerland that has escalated into a Europe-wide row. In the meantime, Libya's leader, Muammar Gaddafi, called for a "holy war" against Switzerland.