Giovedì • 10 Settembre 2015 • Aggiornato alle 14:54
- 123345Pierluigi Bersani
- 117125Silvio Berlusconi
- 54109Beppe Grillo
- 1947Mario Monti
- 10Vallee d'Aoste
- 12M.Ass.Ita.Estero
- 01USEI
- 00Antonio Ingroia
Many challenges await Bersani the reformer - Post a comment
15 febbraio 2013
Pier Luigi Bersani started off with a huge advantage. Now the gap between his main opponent Silvio Berlusconi has been reduced. Despite this, the leader of PD still remains the most likely successor to Mario Monti at the head of the government. Bersani, 61, who shares a birthday with the Cavaliere (both born on September 29), has been secretary of the PD since 2009: he would be the first politician former member of the Italian Communist Party to ...
Scandals hit Lombardy, the highway to the Senate - Post a Comment
14 febbraio 2013
Also Lombardy, one of the "regional battlegrounds" over which a majority in the Senate will be fought, is feeling the strong winds of the judicial storm hitting again the PDL's stronghold. Prosecutors in Milan closed the investigation into two health centers based in the capital of the region, accusing the outgoing PDL Governor of Lombardy, Roberto Formigoni, of criminal organization and corruption. ...
Nichi «The red» promises a new stable government - Post a comment
07 febbraio 2013
The coming together of the Democratic Party and Mario Monti is proceeding at a "stop-and-go" pace. Pier Luigi Bersani confirmed he is up for an alliance with Monti. The Prime Minister responded positively but with one condition: «If Bersani is interested, as stated, in collaborating with the political forces I represent, he has to make choices within his own coalition». In replying Bersani made it clear that: «My coalition is mine and no one can ...
Italians are pro-euro, so parties are soft on the Eu - Post a comment
The euro is a key factor in the 2013 election campaign, being both hero and villain. Italians have some trouble digesting the commitments they have made in the Eurozone, particularly when it comes to tightening the belt and balancing the budget. But the fact is Italians remain Europeans and pro-euro. Riding the wave of budgetary constraints does not necessarily generate votes and political parties are cautious. ...
Lombardy and parties: neck to neck to the last vote - Post a comment
02 febbraio 2013
Lombardy is the Ohio of the Italian elections. This large region of Northern Italy, the door to Europe, will decide who gets the majority in the Senate, the upper house of the Italian Parliament. Lombardy in fact will account for 49 seats, the highest number in all Italian regions, and with the winning coalition receiving as many as 27 seats. ...
The race to «secret» polls raises false expectations- Post a Comment
22 febbraio 2013
The countdown to the elections is something out of the ordinary. At the end of the campaign, instead of counting the number of days or hours left before going to the polls, the Italians – among others – are chasing other numbers: those illegal polls which since February 9 have been circulating behind the scenes. The anomaly? Up to two weeks prior to the election, both the electorate and the markets were bombarded by polls that had at best only a ...
The not-so-easy way to win votes: tax cuts - Post a comment
19 gennaio 2013
«I don't want to be a Robespierre or a Saint-Just: I don't believe in the wealth tax, we already have it on our houses, it's called Imu (property tax). We want to work on this, making it progressive in support of those in greatest difficulty». These are the words of centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who yesterday put back in the frame of the political campaign the issue of taxation. ...
Three's Company to conquer Palazzo Chigi - Post a comment
18 gennaio 2013
Pier Luigi Bersani, Nichi Vendola and Mario Monti are the three political leaders who according to forecasts and polls could find themselves in the same government leading Italy after the elections. The Democratic Party (Centre-left) of Bersani and the left party SEL (Sinistra Ecologia e Libertà) of Vendola will present themselves together at the elections. This coalition should get, according to the projections, a majority in the Camera but in ...
The stakes get higher to control the Senate - Post a comment
The main battlefield of the 2013 election will be the Senate. The Upper House of Parliament, where seats are won on the basis of regional majorities. Yesterday Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of Partito democratico (Pd), said that his centre left coalition will defeat the centre right led by Silvio Berlusconi, leader of Popolo della Libertà, «across the country» which in effect would mean winning both the Camera and the Senate. ...
The hot seat of the Head of State - Post a comment
Le elezioni italiane sono seguite con grande interesse in tutta Europa. Perciò iniziamo oggi una rubrica in inglese: The Insight, giorno per giorno il voto spiegato ai nostri lettori esteri
The «spread» gets its share of the political campaign - Post a Comment
21 febbraio 2013
The 2013 Italian election campaign has been defined as «one of the worst ever». The inevitable rhetoric has been watered down by below the belt populism, unachievable promises and mounting scandals echoing the so called Bribesville of the 1990s. To boot this election campaign is a very odd one. The debate among candidates for the premiership is heated by an unprecedented topic: the "spread", that being, the yield gap between Italian and German ...
Tax breaks to lure voters, But no break up of the euro - Post a Comment
20 febbraio 2013
The result of the election is now more uncertain than ever. «Before the vote it is always like this», observed the Head of State Giorgio Napolitano. Yet at the start of the election campaign, the outcome seemed obvious: victory for the PD/SEL coalition was to some extent taken for granted. Now only days before the vote, the picture painted of Italy after the polls is not quite so cut and dried. A clear victory that would allow the center-left to ...
Two, three or six? Never enough for a TV debate - Post a Comment
19 febbraio 2013
Italian politics is so contentious that candidates can't even agree how and when to face each other on TV. It is a paradox. Italian television is "occupied" by politics. The three public networks have always been "carved up" between political forces. The three largest private networks are owned by the Berlusconi family, while the future of the "small" La7 is being decided these days. ...
Berlusconi's victory in the House not impossible but still unlikely - Post a Comment
18 febbraio 2013
A possibility nobody has considered until now is a Berlusconi's victory in the lower House. Many are taking it for granted that Bersani will win there. In fact for weeks everyone has been looking at the Senate trying to guess whether the coalition led by Bersani and Vendola could actually get an absolute majority of the seats. ...
Grillo is ready to mess things up in Parliament - Post a Comment
16 febbraio 2013
The recent judicial scandals that have led to the arrest of top managers, are sweeping across the elections and fuelling the leader of the Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S), Beppe Grillo's campaign. According to the polls, Grillo will have a strong result in the elections of February 24 and 25. The strength of the comedian and very popular blogger is based on the instigation to "rebel" against the political system. His message is perfect for these times ...
A judicial «earthquake» hits the election campaign - Post a Comment
13 febbraio 2013
The judicial investigations into Finmeccanica, Saipem (Eni) and Montepaschi are having quite an influence on the election campaign. Following the case of the "red bank" Montepaschi, which has cast a negative light on the center-left, the story of Finmeccanica blew up with the arrest of the CEO Giuseppe Orsi, a manager with a Catholic base and close to Lega Nord. ...
Parties please the Church in search for Catholic votes - Post a Comment
12 febbraio 2013
The abdication of Pope Benedict XVI, right in the middle of the election campaign, brings to the fore the issue of the Catholic vote in Italian politics. At the time of the Christian Democrats (DC), the situation was simple: the party had a close relationship with the Church and was there to interpret the Vatican's priorities. ...
The Cavaliere regains votes but Bersani is still 6.6 points ahead - Post a Comment - Polls
08 febbraio 2013
Elections are two weeks away and the last Sole 24 Ore-Ipsos poll confirmed some trends and pointed out a few novelties. The gap between the two major coalitions continues to close. This is the most significant finding which confirms a tendency that has been going on for a few weeks. Pd and Sel are just below the critical threshold of 35% of the votes in the Camera, while Pdl and its allies are at 28.3%. ...
A «carousel» of roles in Mario Monti's future - Post a Comment
09 febbraio 2013
The future of Mario Monti is leading the list of FAQ in Italian politics. The number of times his name has appeared in significant institutional roles is almost uncountable: President of the Republic, Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Prime Minister of a grand coalition and even President of the Senate. But what Monti will be when he "grows up" depends on the outcome of the election. ...
All parties woo voters and the promises pile up - Post a comment
06 febbraio 2013
As election day approaches, parties woo voters with bigger promises. Initiatives go quickly out of date and are piling up. Silvio Berlusconi surprised the electorate and his rival parties with his scheme to return the IMU (property tax) to Italian home owners: and he said he has more ideas to come. Others are not slow to catch on. Mario Monti says now it is possible to lower the tax burden. The leader of the Democratic Party Bersani raised the ...
