Italy – Comment: Local elections – all eyes on Rome

On Sunday and Monday local elections were held in Italy. It was the first big occasion to measure the political temperature since the general elections in February. In my view the two most significant developments in Rome’s voting (and maybe a sign for things to come also on the national level) were:

Czerulf: Italy – Berlusconi, Imu and what comes next

Silvio Berlusconi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Flipping through the newspapers one could get the impression that things are going rather well in Italy. Relatively little space is attributed to the issues that mark the current crisis – a depressed economy, an unemployment rate that is rising month on month (specially among young people) and a political system that fails to address all these issues. One would expect that this mix of upsetting facts should dominate the headlines. Instead what keeps the nation moving like nothing else is the possible suspension (or abolition?) of IMU (Imposta Municipale Propria – a property tax) on family homes. Why is that?

Italia – Video: Enrico Mentana – Che tempo che fa

Enrico Mentana, Direttore del Tg La 7, parla durante questa grande intervista di Fabio Fazio sul Partito Democartico (PD) e sul nuovo secretario Guglielmo Epifani, sul futuro delle Sinistra in generale, sull´Imu, sulla manifestazione del PdL di ieri a Brescia, sul paragone di Silvio Berlusconi con Enzo Tortora e i suoi motivi di lasciare Twitter. Questi 18 minuti sono davvero interessanti!

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• Czerulf: Italy – PdL mobilizes in Brescia (czerulfsthoughts.wordpress.com)

Czerulf: Italy – PdL mobilizes in Brescia

Italiano: Silvio Berlusconi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The stage is set in Brescia (Lombardy). PdL will rally its supporters tomorrow in order to “defend” party leader Silvio Berlusconi against “iniquitous” persecution by the Italian judicial system. During the week Berlusconi got his 4 year jail sentence upheld by the appeal court in Milan (the reason is fiscal fraud in relation to the acquisition of broadcasting licenses by Mediaset). Berlusconi as usual dismisses all charges against him as being unjust and sinister.

Czerulf: Italy – Bersani’s real failure

The former Secretary of the Democratic Party (PD) Bersani received a lot of criticism lately, most of it hard-earned and well deserved. Yes, he messed up the presidential elections, yes, he courted an obviously uninterested bride (M5S) in a bid to form a minority government wasting 50 odd days in the process. Yes, he damaged his standing (and that of his party) needlessly by this appalling exercise (transmitted via live-streaming). All forgiven! This can happen when you have a bad spell.