italy

Matera Capital of Culture 2019: an ‘open future’ with closed ports?0
- EU Governance and Politics, Human Rights and Migration, Op-ed
- 11/02/2019
On January 19th 2019, Matera’s cave-dwelling districts, better known as “Sassi”, opened up to national and international guests and musicians for the celebration of its title as 2019 European Capital of Culture (ECOC).
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Pretending to care for migrants 0
- Human Rights and Migration, Op-ed
- 02/11/2018
On August 20 the Italian ship U. Diciotti with approximately 190 refugees on board docked at the port of Catania, Sicily. Soon after, the Italian government refused to let people off the ship, under the orders of new interior minister Matteo Salvini. For five days the entire group was detained in the docked ship. Under pressure of international community, the passengers were finally allowed off the ship on August 26. A similar situation occurred in June 2018 with the vessel Aquarius, which has been refused access to ports in Italy and Malta in the end having gone to Spain.
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Oil extraction in Italy and “collateral” damage 0
- Environment and Energy, Op-ed
- 21/03/2018
The hydrocarbon sector threatens health and environment in Italy, but fossil fuels continue to be the cornerstone of the national energy policy.
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Gender-mainstreaming in Italy: When assets are considered liabilities 0
- Human Rights and Migration, Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 29/11/2016
Gender-mainstreaming means bringing the interests of women and men to bear on the policy agenda to achieve gender equality. In spite of the literature quantifying the positive impact of higher female employment on fiscal sustainability and growth, Italy moves slow.
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Ain’t no Atlas strong enough to support the Italian banking system on its shoulders 0
- Financial Policy and International Markets, Op-ed
- 05/09/2016
As a whole, Italian banks have non-performing loans (NPL) worth 198bn euros. Add in so-called “sofferenze”, i.e. debt at risk of non payment, and the total amount rises to 360bn euros. The Italian government has strong-armed the banks into setting up a fund – called “Atlante” – that will act as a backstop for banks that are trying to raise capital and cannot find buyers for their new share issues. Unlike the myth it echoes though, Atlante is not strong enough. And, with Mr Renzi, Italy’s PM, putting his legitimacy at stake with the referendum coming up in October, the government might not have the ability and time to do anything better.
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