NEWS ROUNDUP: Winter in
Italian Press and Politics
POLITICA
Rome rubbish crisis: EU threatens sanctions
Wednesday 10th Jan 2018 Source: The Guardian
Rome’s rubbish row has become an issue of fraught debate in the general election lead-up. The country’s environment minister has warned of EU sanctions, while the administration for Rome’s Five Star Movement rebuffed help offers from nearby Emilia-Romagna and Abruzzo as too costly. The unsanitary issue has dragged on for weeks, worsened by the Christmas period, but the Five Star Movement has accused the centre-left of exploiting the problem for its own political benefit during campaign season. A similar situation in Naples back in 2008 resulted in the European Court of Justice ruling a breach of directive in 2010.
Continued tragedy on the Mediterranean: 64 dead as dinghy sinks
Monday 8th Jan 2018 Source: The Guardian
A boat launched from Libya came into difficulty on Saturday morning after it suffered a puncture. 86 people were saved by the Italian coastguard who attended scene, rescuing adults and children from the overcrowded rubber dinghy. With 64 migrants pronounced dead, this is the first large-scale migrant tragedy that the Mediterranean has sustained since the New Year, after a total of 2,832 migrants died on the route between Libya and Italy in 2017.
IMAGE SOURCE: GABRIEL BERGIN/FLICKR