Well the first thing Italy is going to do with EU relaxed spending rules and future Corona virus funds is to er strong arm the Benetton Family to give up their Motorway Business to the State. Not invest in hospitals or clinics but take on a crumbling massive Motorway systems badly in need of repair & investment.
This has upset investors which are German, Chinese and small investors plus the small problem of a 10 Billion debt. The final sum to get the whole system updated, repaired and all parties paid off, who knows. What I do know the cost will be passed on to the users, who already pay the highest toll charges in Europe.
A wise use of EU funds, I can see Italy receiving very little after and being squeezed for it.
Rome’s push for Benetton family to give up its motorway concession sends worrying signal, critics say.
www.politico.eu
Italy has yet to see a eurocent of EU funds - which come with multiple strings attached. Namely, you have to agree
austerity restructuring measures with the EU before receiving funds. The funds are then released in tranches - with the EU retaining the right to stop paying out the funds if Italy is perceived as backsliding on the commitments it has to make to get the funds.
Having to put EU dictated
austerity restructuring in place is going to be immensely unpopular in Italy - and potential electoral suicide for any party in the governing coalition. So I suspect the coalition will break down later this year/early next as the parties involved each try to land the other with the blame for unpopular measures. That's the problem with PR - parties form coalitions, then dump them if they scent electoral advantage.
Until August 2019, the governing coalition was an unlikely alliance between the left wing 5 Star movement and the right wing Northern League. Then the Northern League jumped ship in an attempt to force a GE as it was riding high in the polls. But 5 Star formed a coalition with the centre-left Democratic party - until then a sworn enemy. And the two have been in power for about a year.
But as soon as the EU starts putting pressure on Italy for
austerity budget cutbacks, expect either 5 Star or the Democratic party to jump ship, leaving Italy without a government - and in the midst of a worsening financial crisis.
Last time round, during the Lehman Recession, the EU essentially imposed a 'government of technocrats' on Italy. But then Italy wasn't so deep in the smeg and the two anti-establishment parties (5 Star and the Northern League) were far lower in the polls. A repeat of the 'government of technocrats' and EU imposed cutbacks is likely to see the popularity of those parties rise and either a 5 Star or Northern League anti-EU government in place in Italy if there's a GE.
The Titanic is on course towards the iceberg.
Wordsmith
ec.europa.eu
