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☆ Births in Italy hit record low in 2022, population shrinks further
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 7 (Reuters) - Births in Italy dropped to a new historic low below 400,000 in 2022, national statistics bureau ISTAT said on Friday, as the population continued to shrink. Last year Italy recorded more than 12 deaths for every seven births and the resident population fell by 179,000 to 58.85 million, ISTAT said in its annual demographic report. The population decline slowed somewhat compared with 2021 and 2020, two years heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy recorded 392,600 births in 2022, down from 400,249 the previous year, ISTAT said, the 14th consecutive fall and the lowest number since the country's unification in 1861. Foreigners made up 8.6% of the country's population in 2022, for a total of 5.05 million.

[1/5] A supporter of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stands near the 'San Raffaele' hospital, where former Italian Prime Minister is hospitalised, in Milan, Italy, April 7, 2023. REUTERS/Claudia GrecoMILAN, April 7 (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is "better than he was", his friend Fedele Confalonieri said on Friday after visiting him in hospital, where he is being treated for a lung infection caused by chronic leukaemia. "I'm sure he'll make it because he's a strong man, and because he's the best prime minister we've had in Italy. A friend of Berlusconi, Vittorio Sgarbi, said before he went into hospital the two had discussed his future. Berlusconi's Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition, although he does not have a direct role in her government.

☆ Italy's Berlusconi spends second night in hospital, friends hopeful
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, April 7 (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi spent a second night calmly in the intensive care unit of Milan's San Raffaele hospital and is reacting positively to treatment, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday. He has suffered from chronic blood cancer for some time and is in intensive care for a lung infection, his doctors said on Thursday. "(Zangrillo) told me he had a good sleep, that he is under intensive care and is reacting positively to the treatment," Tajani said. Berlusconi's Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition, though he does not have a direct role in her government. Meloni and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Thursday they had spoken to Berlusconi by telephone.

In recent weeks authorities made it harder for same-sex couples to be legal parents and lawmakers proposed an anti-surrogacy law widely seen as targeting gay couples. In January, the government issued orders that municipalities stop the registration of most children with same-sex parents, complicating access to schooling and medical services. Rainbow Families, a group representing same-sex parents in Italy, says its members are parents to around 1,500 children, but that this underestimates the national total. In some places, already-registered children of same-sex families are now being erased from the records, upon the initiative of prosecutors. In similar cases previously, judges have routinely ruled against same-sex parents.

☆ Former Italian PM Berlusconi in intensive care in hospital
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Federico Maccioni Angelo Amante | Angelo Amante | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Forza Italia leader and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi looks on following a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale Palace in Rome, Italy October 21, 2022. REUTERS/Yara NardiMILAN, April 5 (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi, who was Italian prime minister four times, is in intensive care in a cardiac unit at Milan's San Raffaele Hospital, political sources said on Wednesday. Berlusconi's Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition although he does not have a role in government. Three sources from Berlusconi's Forza Italia party said he was in intensive care, and one of them confirmed Italian media reports that he was being treated in a cardiac unit. An Italian court acquitted Berlusconi in February over allegations of paying witnesses to lie in an underage prostitution case that has dogged the former prime minister for more than a decade.

☆ Italy, digital payment firms and retailers at odds over deal to cut fees
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Giuseppe Fonte | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The cost of digital payments has taken centre stage in Italy, with the right-wing administration led by nationalist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni trying to deal with complaints by retailers about the fees. Rome wants the parties to agree to reduce fees on electronic transactions worth up to 30 euros ($32.87) for businesses with annual revenues of up to 400,000 euros. A meeting between all involved parties is now scheduled for April 20, a second source said confirming the deal is still elusive. Meloni promoted the talks to cut fees after her government in December backtracked on a proposal to cut sanctions against shopkeepers refusing to accept digital payments, following criticism from the European Commission. Tax evasion in Italy is estimated by the Treasury at around 90 billion euros, down from 106 billion euros of 2015.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's administration is determined to oust current CEO Francesco Starace, several sources told Reuters. OPPORTUNITYWith almost 60 Gigawatt (GW) of installed capacity, Enel is one of the world's biggest players in renewable energy. The company, which has been hit by soaring gas prices and government measures capping bills to shield consumers, saw net profit slip to 5.4 billion euros last year, from 5.6 billion euros in 2021. In November Enel unveiled its updated strategy to 2025, pledging to cut net debt by 21 billion euros via asset disposals, while at the same time investing 37 billion euros and increasing installed renewable capacity by 21 GW. You can't have an Italian only Enel, it would be such a step back," de Lamaze said.

☆ Mispronouncing the word 'Bruschetta' could soon cost thousands of euros in Italy, where politicians want to pass a law to penalize 'Anglomania'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Italy's government is hell-bent on passing a law that would penalize the use of non-Italian words. The proposed law would fine people who they believe are bastardizing the language. The proposed law seeks to stop "Anglomania," which "demeans and mortifies," Italian language and culture, according to the bill's text—and could even penalize Italians who mispronounce words like "Bruschetta." Pronouncing the word Bruschetta as "bru-shetta" and not "bru-sketta," for example, could cost Italians financially under the proposed law, according to CNN. Meloni's party is in support of the bill, which will be opened for parliamentary debate soon.

☆ Meloni's party looks to shield Italian language from foreign contamination
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROME, March 31 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's party has proposed imposing fines of up to 100,000 euros ($108,750) on public and private entities which use foreign terms, most notably English, instead of Italian in official communications. "It is not just a matter of fashion, as fashions pass, but Anglomania (has) repercussions for society as a whole," said the text of the draft bill, calling for the Italian language to be protected and nurtured. The bill was presented by lawmakers from Meloni's nationalist Brothers of Italy party and will have to be approved by both houses of parliament to become law. It also stipulates that all names and acronyms indicating jobs in companies operating in Italy should be spelt out in the local language, with foreign words only allowed if they prove to be impossible to translate. The draft bill comes just days after the government moved to defend what it sees as another important part of Italy's culture, banning the use of laboratory-produced food to safeguard the country's agri-food heritage.

☆ Italy PM's party presents bill to split retail and investment banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROME, March 29 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's party has presented a bill in parliament to separate retail and investment banks - a move that, it approved, would force a radical overhaul of the country's banking sector. Allowing retail banks to engage in "speculative trading" is "dramatically negative for the real economy and undermines the most elementary principles of safeguard for the social and ethical foundation of the economy," the FdI bill states. The draft law, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, would give banks 12 months to reorganise their operations and choose between commercial and financial investment activities. In the United States, calls for similar banking reforms, with the reintroduction of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, have come from left-wingers within the Democratic Party, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren. Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Alvise Armellini, editing by Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Italy moves to ban lab-grown meat in drive to protect home products
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Angelo Amante | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It does not apply to products made or sold elsewhere in the European Union, in Turkey or in the European Economic Area (EEA). The nationalist administration of Giorgia Meloni has pledged to shield Italy's food from technological innovations seen as harmful, and renamed the agriculture ministry the "ministry for agriculture and food sovereignty". Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, one of Meloni's closest allies, says laboratory products endanger the traditional link between agriculture and food. The ban on "cell-based" meat is not the only initiative the right-wing government in Rome has put in place to block non-conventional food from being served on Italian tables. Agricultural lobby Coldiretti on Tuesday praised the government's move against "synthetic food", saying the ban was needed to safeguard home production "from the attacks of multinational companies".

The 19-billion-euro tranche is related to the 55 targets and milestones in Italy's pandemic Recovery Plan that were supposed to be reached in the second half of last year. The extra time means Italy has now until the end of April to persuade Brussels to release the funds, a government source told Reuters. Rome has so far secured almost 67 billion euros of the roughly 200 billion it is due to receive through 2026, dependent on it achieving Brussels' policy prescriptions. Rome is eligible for a further 34 billion euros in 2023, split into two tranches, provided it can meet all 96 objectives set for this year. The initial timetable set out in 2021 envisaged spending more than 40 billion euros of them by 2022, but this goal was repeatedly revised down and was most recently set at around 20 billion euros.

☆ At least 29 African migrants die when two boats sink off Tunisia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Tarek Amara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TUNIS, March 26 (Reuters) - At least 29 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa died when their two boats sank off the coast of Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, the Tunisian coast guard said on Sunday. Houssem Jebabli, a senior official in the national guard told Reuters that the Tunisian coast guard had also rescued 11 people off the coast of Mahdia, further north. The coast guard said it had stopped about 80 boats heading for Italy in the past four days and detained more than 3,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries. According to U.N. data, at least 12,000 migrants who reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period of 2022. The Italian coast guard said on Thursday it had rescued about 750 migrants in two operations off the southern Italian coast.

☆ Nineteen African migrants die when another boat sinks off Tunisia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Tarek Amara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TUNIS, March 26 (Reuters) - At least 19 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa died when their boat sank off the Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, a human rights group said on Sunday, the latest migrant boat disaster off Tunisia. The coast guard said it had stopped about 80 boats heading for Italy in past four days and detained more than 3,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries. According to U.N. data, at least 12,000 migrants who reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period of 2022. The Italian coast guard said on Thursday it had rescued about 750 migrants in two operations off the southern Italian coast. Meloni called on the IMF and some countries to help Tunisia quickly to avoid its collapse.

☆ Europe risks migrant surge without aid to Tunisia, Italy PM warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, March 24 (Reuters) - Europe risks seeing a huge wave of migrants arriving on its shores from North Africa if financial stability in Tunisia is not safeguarded, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday. Tunisia has been gripped by political upheavals since July 2021, when President Kais Saied seized most powers, shutting down parliament and moving to rule by decree. "Maybe not everyone is aware of the need to preserve the financial stability in a country which has severe financial problems," Meloni told reporters following a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels. Earlier on Friday Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told RAI public radio Europe could see "tens, maybe hundreds of thousands" of boat migrant arrivals if economic aid is not granted soon to Tunisia. According to United Nations data, at least 12,000 of those who have reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, against 1,300 in the same period of 2022.

Two government officials told Reuters the government was concerned about the deal because Nebius's activities were funded by Yandex. A third, separate source said Nebius is part of Yandex's Dutch holding company, Yandex NV, and would be part of the new international company post-restructuring. "They were basically told that as long as they're connected to a Russian company, it's not going to work," one of the sources told Reuters. "Our Dutch holding company is in the process of divesting its Russian business – unfortunately this isn't a fast process," Shtan said. Energy issued a statement last month saying neither the company nor its chief executive, Michael Bobrov, has any connection with Russia.

☆ Italy pushing IMF to help Tunisia and avoid instability, minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

However, Tajani has spoken to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and urged her to show flexibility to stave off possible financial collapse. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is also "working the phones", one official said, warning that Italy faced an "invasion of migrants" in the coming months if Tunisia did not get the money. "Uncontrolled irregular migration can only be reduced by improving the conditions of security and economic stability," Tajani said, adding that Italy was looking to boost training opportunities for Tunisians as an alternative to migration. Of the arrivals this year to Italy, the top country of origin is Ivory Coast (3,223), followed by Guinea (2,906). "The stability and prosperity of Tunisia, with respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, are crucial for the stability of the entire Mediterranean region," Tajani said.

☆ Enel self-help plan has one known unknown
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, March 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Enel (ENEI.MI) Chief Executive Francesco Starace’s slim-down plan is not getting enough attention. That prompted the group to start aggressively selling assets in places like Chile, Argentina and Romania to cut debt by 21 billion euros. As of Thursday, it had clinched sales equivalent to around 8 billion euros, while net debt had fallen to 60 billion euros. Since taking the helm in 2014, the 67-year-old Italian executive has set the state-controlled power company on a clear green energy trajectory, with one of the biggest green generation pipelines. If Enel replaces its green champion with someone less competent, investors may stay jittery.

☆ Rome hopes to reverse decline and relive La Dolce Vita
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Giselda Vagnoni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/5] General view of the Colosseum next to a subway's construction sites in Rome, Italy, February 16, 2023. However, flailing public services can make La Dolce Vita seem a remote dream, for both visitors and residents alike. "It is the biggest investment plan Rome has ever had," Gualtieri told Reuters. "Milan was turned around by the EXPO and has become a city capable of attracting capital from all over the world. Rome is an incredible place and second to none," Luca Luciani, head of BAI Communications Italia, told Reuters.

☆ A tech boss appointed by Italy's prime minister resigned after quoting a speech from fascist dictator Mussolini in an internal email
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The boss of an Italian state-owned tech firm resigned after quoting Mussolini in an internal email. Anastasio was appointed by right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in November. Anastasio, who was appointed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in November, sent an inauguration email to board members quoting Mussolini, who ruled Italy as a dictator from 1922 to 1943. In the original speech, Mussolini asserted his power over Italy as dictator and admitted to murdering his opponent Giacomo Matteotti, a politician who had criticized the government. Meloni became Italy's first female Prime Minister in October and heads the far-right Brothers of Italy party.

☆ Italian government tells Milan to stop registering same-sex couples' children
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Federico Maccioni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, March 14 (Reuters) - Italy's right-wing government has told Milan's city council to stop registering same-sex parents' children, re-igniting a debate around Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative agenda. In the absence of clear legislation on the issue some courts have ruled in favour of allowing same sex couples to adopt each others' children, and mayors of some cities, including Milan, have registered surrogate births to same-sex couples. Milan's centre-left mayor Giuseppe Sala said on Monday he had received a letter from the interior ministry telling him to stop registering the children of same-sex couples. Sala said in a podcast on Tuesday he would respect the prefecture's order but would keep fighting politically to guarantee that the rights of same-sex parents and their children are recognised. Fabrizio Marrazzo, a leading gay rights campaigner, called for Sala and other mayors to keep registering the birth certificates.

☆ Italy blames surge in migration on Russia's Wagner group
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROME, March 13 (Reuters) - The Italian government on Monday said Russian mercenary group Wagner was behind a surge in migrant boats trying to cross the central Mediterranean as part of Moscow's strategy to retaliate against countries supporting Ukraine. He then used a series of obscenities to describe Crosetto and to urge him to pay attention to his own country. Wagner forces have been accused of operating in several African countries including Libya, Mali, and Central African Republic. Crosetto, a senior figure in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy party, called on the NATO allies to help Italy face the rise in migrant arrivals. Similar remarks also came from Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who during a visit to Israel told ANSA news agency that it was worrying many migrants came from areas "controlled by the Wagner group".

☆ Italy's own version of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is shaking up politics in Rome
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Italy has a new face in its national politics that's being compared to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the popular Democrat lawmaker stateside. Elly Schlein was elected as the center-left party Partito Democratico (PD) leader earlier this month — the first female to get the job. Earlier in her political career, she volunteered in the 2008 Obama campaign, when Barack Obama faced off against John McCain. But the picture might be changing, with Rome electing the first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, in October. Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein are emblematic of that change," he added.

☆ More than 1,000 migrants brought ashore in Italy after multiple rescues
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROME, March 11 (Reuters) - More than 1,000 migrants were brought ashore to southern Italy on Saturday after coastguards launched major rescue operations for three boats struggling in rough seas off Calabria. Local officials said a further 200 migrants had been picked up off the coast of Sicily and would be ferried to Catania later in the day. Prosecutors are investigating whether Italian authorities should have done more to prevent the disaster. Late last year, it cracked down on charity rescue boats, accusing them of acting as a taxi service for migrants. However, departures have nonetheless picked up dramatically, with roughly 17,000 migrants reaching Italy by boat so far this year against some 6,000 in the same period of 2022.

☆ Israel offers Italy gas, wants it to recognise Jerusalem as capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROME, March 9 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to boost economic ties with Italy, he said ahead of a visit to the country, raising the prospect of supplying Rome with natural gas. "I would like to see more economic cooperation (between Israel and Italy) ... In June last year, Israel and Egypt signed a deal with the European Union aimed at boosting natural gas exports to Europe. He also told la Repubblica he would ask Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Israel claims Jerusalem as its capital but it is not recognised as such by most countries and its status under international law is disputed pending a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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