Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has resigned amid catastrophic levels of debt that potentially endangered the fate of the entire Euro Zone. Many countries are engulfed by exorbitant public debt that has put mere functioning of government in serious questions from Ireland to Greece. There is an exclusively high rate of uncertainty hovering over the minds of people in and around the Euro-Zone.

The biggest question remains whether Berlusconi’s exit brings good fortune to Italy’s economy and unquestionably to world economic growth prospects in future. Now the fate of the Italian economy solely resides on how effectively President Giorgio Napolitano forms new government under the leadership of Mario Monti a former European Commissioner and most widely discussed candidate for the top post!

The parliament has just passed austerity measures to break the country out of the debt death spiral. The package foresees to save 59.8 Billion Euros from a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.

1 percentage point increase in VAT to 21 percent from 20 percent,stalling of public-sector wages till 2014. Special tax on Energy Sector.They also include increasing age of retirement, reforming employment law, privatizing state corporations and the like.

Austerity measures imply planned reduction in state expenditures on services and benefits in an attempt to reduce deficit spending. Austerity measures does not at all represent moves to realign the fiscal system or to provide with long-term prospective reforms that are needed the most to debt laden countries.

Rather short-term focused which might ultimately prove to provide relief on a marginal scale seriously under representing the whole cluster of fiscal turbulence.

Austerity measures basically tend to lower the intensity of ballooning deficit rather than finding out a constructive and effective way of dealing with it in the future.

According to the Daily telegraph “indeed the euro-zone is reaching a point of no return and it’s becoming a disaster for the global economy in an editorial recently. Pundits also claimed that in order to rescue Italy, almost all the funds in the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) would be needed. (1 trillion Euros)

According to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Gross Italian Debt is up more than 110 percent from the last ten years, in the year 2001 it stood at 120 percent of Gross Domestic Product and even in the year 2005 it was 119.9 percent and again it followed a similar trend in the year 2010 when it reached 118 percent of Gross Domestic Product.

Emma Marcegaglia, head of the Italian Employees association, Confindustria said structural reforms demanded by European Central Bank and European Commission are imminent now, and further said reforms are the only thing that can take us out of current situation.

Image courtesy of the Huffington Post

The real threat to Italian Economy according to a few economists is slow growth rate over the last fifteen years. The above figure illustrates that in the course of fifteen years Italian economic growth rate has been less than the rest of Europe.

Putting any economy back to normal conditions requires stable growth rate and stable growth prospects, these two vital ingredients are missing in Italy’s case, so moving forward into an era of economic unease might continue for quite a few years. The hope is that through these measures, the Italian economy grows at faster rate and the burden of debt is lessened in the near future.

360b / Shutterstock.com

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The center-right government launched a financial plan aimed at increasing tax revenues and lowering the spending by introducing a set of measures, some of which are not very clear yet. This plan has passed as decree but, as required by the legislative procedure, it has to be approved by the parliament within the next 60 days in order to become law.

In view of the parliament vote, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi sought the opposition support, aware of his coalition’s majority weakening and of the strong tensions which inflame the parliament over the austerity measures. “There is a need for unity in defense of our common currency,” said Berlusconi during a press conference. Nevertheless, the opposition leader Pier Luigi Bersani described the financial plan as a “time-bomb”.

As the Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti explained, the new austerity package consists of a set of cuts in various sectors in order to increase the revenues. The major aim is to reduce the public spending of government, both at central and local level, and to stabilize the country’s finance – as the European Union required. Only few details have been provided in regard to the actual extent of the cuts and the other measures which were confirmed in the latest version of the financial plan approved by the cabinet.

It seems that will be the public health service the most affected by the austerity measures. The estimated cuts in this sector will be heavy and the cost of public medical services will increase, in order to avoid the waste. In most of the public sectors the labour turnover will be stopped until 2014, as also the wage rise for public employees. The retirement age for women will be gradually increased from 2012. Furthermore, a special commission will be established to develop a plan to reduce the politician’s salaries and benefits, which will come into force from 2014 – with the next government – and will bring the Italian politicians’ compensation in line with the European Union’s average.

“Reducing the budget deficit is not just about numbers, it is a political and ethical objective of a country,” said Tremonti in a press conference. “It is reflected in choices of responsibilities between citizens and generations.”

Italy’s public debt is about 120% of its gross domestic product, which is one of the highest in the world and it’s second only to Greece in the eurozone. Because of this the country is under the particular observation of the rating’s agencies and the European Union. Recently Standard & Poor’s downgraded Italy from stable to negative, and doesn’t consider the new austerity package enough for the growth of the country – which was just 0.1% in the first quarter of the year.

Oppositions and some economist criticized the government’s financial plan particularly worried for the current situation of the country. In the meanwhile, the national institute of statistic (ISTAT) published the latest survey’s result about unemployment rate in Italy, which is currently at 8.6%. For young people between 15 and 24 the unemployment is at 29.6% – the highest level since 2004 -, and the rate of inactivity is at 37.8%. Italy and its people have to face a very difficult situation.

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After all the boycott attempts made by the Italian government and especially by the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his party, the 57% of Italian people went to vote for the four referendums last Sunday and Monday.

More than 29 millions of Italians went to the polls and 95% of them said no to the return to nuclear energy, no to privatization of public water and no to parliamentary immunity law.

These results are very important both for the future of the country and for the political sign given by the electors to the government. Italian people rejected all the programs and the laws introduced by Berlusconi and his parliamentary majority, giving another slap in the face to the Prime Minister and the government just after the heavy defeat of the local elections of May.

In spite of the numerous abstention requests made by Berlusconi and his party, the electors – also the right-wing ones – expressed their democratic will on the four fundamental questions of the referendum, ruining the government’s plans.

The need of change and the frustration of the Italian people were stronger than the boycott campaign carried out by the government by any means. The appeals to the courts for the referendums to be declared invalid and illegal and the sabotage of the television information turned out completely vain and useless.

Italians sent another strong signal to Berlusconi and the ruling class. It is clear that the distance between people and government is getting wider every day, and that the country has the will to change and want to express its disapproval of the disastrous policy of the government.

Also from a political perspective the results of the referendums are very important. The right-wing governmental coalition seems to be giving way after the defeats suffered in the last weeks. Northern League – the second party of the majority – expressed its discontent in regard to Berlusconi’s policy and his party’s line. Moreover, many Northern League exponents have publicly opposed Berlusconi’s program in occasion of the referendums’ campaign.

It remains to be seen which will be the choices of the government in the matter of energy, the country needs an energy plan but we don’t know yet what will be chosen as “substitute” to Berlusconi’s dearly beloved nuclear plants.

Anyway, for the second time in 24 years, Italy says no to nuclear energy – the first referendum had been held in 1987 – and for at least the next five years the country won’t start any atomic plan.

About the questions on privatization of water, Italians decided to keep the service public as it has been until now, confirming the value of water as a fundamental public good.

The other question was about legitimate impediment law which, if not rejected by electors, would have warranted the parliamentary immunity to the Prime Minister and the other ministers, saving Berlusconi from his numerous trials – four at the moment.

Thus, a terrible blow for the Premier and his government, and a strong signal by the people that there is a need for democracy and change.

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Here an extract from the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s statements at the press conference of G8 summit.

Berlusconi read a message and then replied to some Italian journalists’ questions.

“Media featured my private conversation with US President prominently. It has been reported only a fragment taken out of a wider argument’s context,” he began.

“I think it’s definitely my institutional duty, whenever I have the opportunity to meet other leaders, to explain them what is the situation in Italy, also in relation to those events which may undermine the country’s credibility and that of the one who represents it.”

And then he started attacking the judges: “I repeat that in our country there is an intolerable situation of interference of some public prosecutors, towards the people’s representatives who have been elected democratically, with groundless accusations,” – referring to his personal life -.

“Those judges who interfered with the political life of the country and caused also government crisis,” he added.

“The original balances provided for by the original constitution failed.” […]

“It’s dutiful to explain the situation to those who may not understand it, especially abroad, because it may be distorted by the media which, instead of reporting the news, aim at delegitimizing our institutions.” […]

“It’s fundamental knowing about the persecution which I have been subjected, and about the attempt to attack me, even from the patrimonial point of view,[…] with the only attempt to take me away from the political scene, to help that Left which didn’t succeed in doing it at the polls.”

Then he started replying to journalists’ question about why he decided to talk about Italian justice in occasion of an international summit.

“I just defended the Prime Minister’s institution.” […]

And when he was asked to which leaders he talked he said: “Besides Obama I talked to all the leaders. I thought it was my duty to inform them about the situation in Italy.”

“It’s outrageous that you are not scandalized at the twenty four charges pending on me which were dropped and that you keep on exaggerating and emphasizing.  I repeat another time “shame on you!” he thundered to journalists.

[…] “Justice is the pathology of our democracy. It’s a very serious problem, but at last we have a strong majority to pass the justice reform.”

And to conclude a comment about the future and the justice reform: “I won’t drop out of politics until there won’t be a right justice that may warrant to citizens to be adjudicated by independent judges, and not because the accused is a friend or an enemy but only on merit.”

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Naples is an ancient city in Italy, one of the oldest in the world, famous for its history, its beauties, its art and its gastronomical specialities. Born as a Greek colony 2,800 years ago during its all history was the scene of many events that left their mark , characterizing the Italian history playing an important role in promoting the unification of the country and the Italian culture spread all over the world.

The beautiful gulf, the view of the volcano Vesuvius, the architectural and artistic treasures are the characteristics that make Naples the wonderful city that Italians know and foreigners dream.

Its historical center, which is the largest of Europe, has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1995 thanks to its immense artistic and cultural value.

Nowadays all these beauties are in a real grip of garbage. The latest news reported that currently almost 2,000 tons of garbage lie on the streets of the city.

Residents say the smell is unbearable. In many cases it is even difficult for them going out from their houses because the waste bags are left outside the doors and sometime the piles reach the windows of buildings first floors.

A situation almost unimaginable in a big city of a Western European country, but that for Naples residents is the sad and not new reality.

In fact the garbage issue is a recurring issue for Naples. Since the middle of 1990 the city and its surroundings have suffered from waste management problems. The incapacity of the local administration and the infiltration of the Camorra – the local mafia organization that import waste from all over Europe – in the municipal garbage disposal business have led to the strong crisis which broke out in 2008, and still weigh heavily on this area.

The solution of the crisis promised by the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi since starting his mandate – that was also the point on which he built up his electoral campaign – didn’t solve the problem.

The center of the city and some other area were cleaned, but this situation of apparent calm lasted just for a while. In 2010 the government proposed to open new landfills in the region to face the problem – for example inside the Vesuvius National Park – but in the residents of the designed areas tried to block this action.

Cashes with the police, garbage trucks blocked by people stuck in the middle of the streets, rubbish skip committed to the flames, real scenes of urban guerrilla warfare that made Naples famous all over the world not for its beauties but for its garbage.

Until now all the government’s measures turned out totally useless and definitely not appropriate, and the emergency goes on.

Meanwhile the worries about the population’s health rise. Leukemia, throat cancer, and respiratory illnesses rates are higher day after day due to air and water pollution. A very high price to pay for the residents which watch with impotence the decay of their city and risk to compromise their state of health.

There is still a possibility for Naples to be free from the garbage and to be famous just for its beauties again?

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The face of the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi became the image for the new campaign of the German public television networks ARD and ZDF, promoting the freedom and the independence of the media.

Next to the image of the smiling Italian Premier appears the slogan “Democracy is only as strong as its media”. Simple and clear the recall to the Italian “special situation” regarding media freedom and the concentration of powers in the Prime Minister’s hands.

Mr Berlusconi is the owner of Mediaset, the largest broadcast media group in Italy, but that’s not all. He is also the main Italian publisher because he owns the publishing house Mondadori, which controls the 50 per cent of the books market and a very large share of that of magazine too. Moreover his family is the owner of the newspaper Il Giornale, that constantly expresses support to him and to his political party.

Being the Prime Minister, the head of the government, he also exerts a strong influence over the public television RAI, that has always been characterized by a historical politicization and conditioning from the government and the political parties.

During his various legislatures since 1994 – the current is the forth – were passed numerous laws which favoured Mr Berlusconi and his family’s enterprises also in the regulations of the media sector.

The particular situation of Italy in matter of media freedom is an actual anomaly. The conflict of interest of the Prime Minister, the concentration of the media, the strong political control of the governments alternatively in charge over the broadcasting service are the peculiarities of this anomaly.

Since 2004 Freedom House in reporting its results of an analysis about freedom of press and information in the world’s countries, defined Italy as “partly free” according to its position in the rank scale. 2010 results see Italy at 75 position, just before Bulgaria and Namibia, still defining it as partly free.

Many international institutions and organization – as “Special Rapporteur” of UN, OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, International Press Institute, Council of Europe, EFJ International Federation of Journalists, OSI Open Society Institute, IHF International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights – expressed their concern on the Italian situation of independence and freedom of media.

The OSCE reported about the conflict of interest: “In a democracy, it is incompatible to be both in command of news media and to hold a public post”.

On the same issue the International Press Institute “Italy has a special place in Europe with regard to freedom of the media because in no European country does the prime minister, the head of the government, who is the politician that can exert the most power over the state media, own most of the other broadcasting media, and many of the print media”.

The European Commission gave notice also of “the imbalance between press and television, that absorbs the 60 per cent of the overall mass media advertising spending; the substantial monopoly of privately-owned television, with Mediaset that continues to show a significant increase in income and revenues every year, thanks to the “dragging effect” of the “Berlusconi-Prime Minister” factor.

The problems of the Italian style democracy in the media sector – and in other fields as well – are well-known, but been an insider the consciousness of a real lack of independence in the media is stronger than out of the country.

Just who is used to watch the various TV channels can feel the difference between them and their way to supply information. The same news can sound very different from channel to channel according to their political tendency or their ownership. Even the images can be totally conflicting. Television and press are clearly politicized. The “inconvenient news” for the ruling class and its head is opportunely avoided or disguised by the main channels and newspapers.

Only the opposition gives a wider view of the facts, but also in those channels and newspapers – which are not as influential as the others – is the political tendency or the membership to a political party that influence the news. Journalism is always political in Italy, in a way or another.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister’s image is being used in another country as a negative figure to promote the freedom of media, Italians have to face this sad reality – mostly unawares – which sounds very far from the Western democratic world.

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The controversy surrounding the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi continues to roar through the national media. Researchers have published a report in the Milan newspaper ‘Corriere della Sera’ which reveals that the Prime Minister spent $47 million in 2010 on purchases including gifts, a variety of services and several household expenses for his private homes.

The recent scandal known as ‘Rubygate’ has Silvio Berlusconi accused of engaging in the services of a child prostitute and of abusing his power. The center of the mess is a young Moroccan girl who described private orgies in honor of the 74-year-old Italian leader and claimed to have received money – though declines that she received the money in return for sex. Berlusconi was placed under criminal investigation in January of this year and indicted in February. The trial is set for April 6.

According to the newspaper, Berlusconi paid the amount of $781.000 to the 14 girls that attended his private ‘bunga bunga’ parties at his home in Arcore (northern Italy). He also gave $138.000 to an ex-contestant of the Italian version of Big Brother known as Angela Sozio.

In addition, he invested $166.000 in a business for ties and scarves, $90.000 in a jewelry shop and $416.000 in a fabric store. He also spent $938.000 on the rent and maintenance of the Paraggi Castle in Portofino, and $250.000 million on other household expenses, including water and electricity, for his home in Antigua at the Caribbean.

He also made several bank transfers to his lawyers and his grown children Marina and Pier Silvio. Among the expenses, it also seems he wasted $903.000 on antique shops and art galleries, and $694.000 on helicopter flights.

Moreover, he donated $97.000 to restore a church, and another $277.000 on a rugby team as well as a $55.000 wedding gift to a secretary.

Corriere della Sera also published in February that Berlusconi had made several transfers of $27.000 to Noemi Letizia’s mother, Noemi being the 20-old-girl that was accused of causing Berlusconi’s divorce in 2009.

As of now, Berlusconi’s lawyer Niccolo Ghedini, who allegedly received $612.000, has described the newspaper publication as a “rape of the Silvio Berlusconi´s privacy”.

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“An ancient Mediterranean necropolis described as one of the world’s greatest historical sites is being submerged beneath cement, high rise housing and rubbish dumps, according to Italian conservationists. Tuvixeddu – which means “hills with small cavities” in the Sardinian dialect – contains thousands of Phoenician and Punic burial chambers from the 6th century BC. It has long been robbed of funerary objects but some of its tombs have retained their original paintings, including “Ureo’s Tomb”, named after a sacred serpent, and “The Warrior’s Tomb”, in which a decoration depicts a warrior throwing a spear.”

This was the beginning of an article of the English newspaper The Times in 2008. The first time that a foreign newspaper turned its eyes to the biggest and unknown Phoenician necropolis of Mediterranean Sea, in the island of Sardinia in Italy. Before that article no one out of Italy had never heard about this archaeological area in the heart of Cagliari, the regional capital town of Sardinia.

Very few people know about this place even in Italy, very few people imagine that in a small angle of a not very popular town there is a place on a hill called Tuvixeddu and that this place is an ancient and beautiful necropolis more than 2500 years old.

Unfortunately the only reason why some newspaper told the story of this place is the “modern threat” of a future that seems not to have any respect for history. It’s unbelievable but the reality is that Tuvixeddu is becoming famous just for its struggle against the threat of 260 thousand cubic meters of cement.

Some years ago a project of more than 150 millions of euros has been proposed by a famous and powerful builder, Gualtiero Cualbu that seems to be a good supporter of the current regional president in office – who is of the same party of Berlusconi and was supported by the Prime Minister for his electoral campaign in 2009 with a strong advertisement -, and also a friend of various politicians of the right wing, that currently have the power and the administration of the major institutions in the island.

This “monstrous” project, supported without delay by the right parties, consists of the building of a new and functional residential area right next to the archaeological area of Tuvixeddu.

The former president of Sardinia,Renato Soru – of the left wing party-, with the support of the cultural and ecologist association Italia Nostra and the political group Sardegna Democratica, reported and stopped the building while he was in office – until 2009 – for defending the area and the treasures which are held inside the tombs and the cavities. But in 2009, after the loss of Soru, the new local government canceled the blockage and the project could be relaunched.

Some days ago the good news, the sentence of the Council of State blocked the building, saving in this way the necropolis from the cement. The struggle of the former regional president has been won, the monster that threatened this invaluable treasure – the cement – has been defeated. In a world where the respect for the ancient times and the antiquities counts less than the business and the personal and political interests this is an important conquest.

Now our wish is that Tuvixeddu could become famous for its real value and not just for its disgraces.

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From America to Asia, from Africa to Europe, all around the world we hear stories about ministers and politicians’ resignation.

Last recent case in Europe occurred in Germany where the Defense Minister, Karl-Theodor Zu Guttenberg, has resigned in consequence of a plagiarism scandal. After it was revealed that he copied word for word from internet the half of the pages of his university doctorate thesis in 2006, he couldn’t stand the pressure therefore admitted his “mistake” and did the right thing: quitting his job.

But he is not the only one. On the other side of the world, in Japan 2,180 euros were sufficient to make resign the Foreign Minister Saiji Maehara. The revelation of receiving in 2005 an illegal donation from a South Korean woman resident of Japan cost him his office. Admitting the fact he officially apologized to electors, bowing in front of them and in front of the Japan’s flag,and he resigned.

Back to Europe. The French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has resigned after the strong criticism on the initial offer of help for putting down the uprising and the following Christmas holiday she spent in Tunisia guest of the former President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, right during the rebellion.

In Africa recently was the Culture and Sport Minister of Rwanda, Joseph Habineza, who resigned. In this case the cause was a photo scandal. Some photos taken on St. Valentine’s Day in 2008, showing the minister and a couple off women in intimate poses, were published on a website. “When you see people publishing pictures and all that, it is not good for your image as a minister,” he said.

In the United States was a shirtless photo which made the married Republican congressman Chris Lee resign. He took this photo and sent it to a woman met online. This virtual flirtation – in perfect teenagers’ style – in a country as US has led to resignation.

If we look back at the very last years we can remember also the resignation of Eliot Spitzer, the New York Governor, in 2008. His involvement with a sex scandal – because he was found with some prostitutes – was the reason. Official admission of guilt and apology to his family and to the public for him too.

In 2009 in the United Kingdom the revelations over the expenses claims led the Britain’s first female home secretary Jacqui Smith to resign. Also two pornographic films watched by her husband on the pay per view TV were claimed – “inadvertently” she said -.

And then the Australian Ports Minister Paul McLeay resignation from cabinet in 2010 after the spreading of the news about his usual surfing on porn and online gaming sites.

So how about Italy and its funny Prime Minister? Silvio Berlusconi’s trials started at the end of February. Totally will be four, some old some new. He is charged with judicial corruption, illegal financing of political parties, false accounting, extortion, abuse of power and prostitution of minors than eighteen – the Rubygate affair -. The consequences?

The Italian Premier doesn’t resign but continues to accuse his political opponents and the magistrates of conspiracy against him. He finds all the possible ways not to go to the hearings, he is also trying to reform the justice system in order to get out of troubles.

Italians?Almost the half of the people seem to believe that he’s innocent and don’t think he should resign. In the parliament he is constantly increasing his government majority – finding magically new supporters from others parties -. The story about Bunga-Bunga parties has become very popular and also Berlusconi uses it to make jokes inviting journalists, electors and other politicians to participate during public conferences.

A politician should follow an appropriate behaviour, in accordance to his public figure. The electors need to take those figures as their model. In a civil country, with a right justice system, the consequences of actions which undermine the credibility of the country should be suitable to a right sense of decency, responsibility and morality.

How should be filthy a scandal in Italy to lead a Prime Minister to resign? Is this the country of indecency and immorality?

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