Off to Rome today for four days to celebrate my better half's 40th birthday.
I am sure everything will have calmed down after the recent nail-biting election, which Romano Prodi won by less than 25,000 votes.
One of the key battlegrounds was that of the economy, as it will be in the next elections here in the UK. The Italian economy had only grown by an average of less than 1 per cent since Silvio Berlusconi took office in 2001, and did not grow at all in 2005.
The problems are familiar - competition from East Asian exporters are affecting the comptitvness of Italian manufacturers; there is high unemployment amongst the young; household debt is increasing and Italy's budget deficit continues to be in breach of EU rules.
As opposed to Berlusconi's tax cutting agenda and focus on improving the fortunes of the poor South (which qualifies for Objective 1 funding), Prodi aims to boost jobs by cutting labour costs, develop new programmes to boost competitiveness and to streamline the bureaucracy that is stifling the Italian economy.
Given the main differences between the two parties as how to deal with this, and the similar problems faced by many other European nations, it will be of great interest to measure the success of Mr Prodi's policies in a couple of years time.
I am sure everything will have calmed down after the recent nail-biting election, which Romano Prodi won by less than 25,000 votes.
One of the key battlegrounds was that of the economy, as it will be in the next elections here in the UK. The Italian economy had only grown by an average of less than 1 per cent since Silvio Berlusconi took office in 2001, and did not grow at all in 2005.
The problems are familiar - competition from East Asian exporters are affecting the comptitvness of Italian manufacturers; there is high unemployment amongst the young; household debt is increasing and Italy's budget deficit continues to be in breach of EU rules.
As opposed to Berlusconi's tax cutting agenda and focus on improving the fortunes of the poor South (which qualifies for Objective 1 funding), Prodi aims to boost jobs by cutting labour costs, develop new programmes to boost competitiveness and to streamline the bureaucracy that is stifling the Italian economy.
Given the main differences between the two parties as how to deal with this, and the similar problems faced by many other European nations, it will be of great interest to measure the success of Mr Prodi's policies in a couple of years time.
Comments