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News from the Consulate

News from Italy

NEWS
from Italy
Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, is looking to
overhaul Italy’s labor market. The Renzi
government has been battling unions and
proposes an advanced plan for new employees,
exempting them from full welfare benefits in
their new job with increasing coverage after
time periods. The process also replaces some
state funded wage guarantees with a universal
benefit program. Critics complain that
Renzi’s proposal makes it almost impossible
to fire older workers, and leaves new workers
exposed to easy firing and fewer protections.

Consulate of Italy in Detroit
Calendar of Events in Ohio
Italian translation on page 18

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Italian protest party, Five Star Movement, has
launched a petition drive for the country to
abolish the euro. In elections last year, this
legislative group garnered 26% of the
nation’s vote. They promise to circulate
a petition and collect 500,000 signatures in
the next six months. Many voters believe it
was a mistake to join the euro, but fear
withdrawal to the lira would lead to a
crisis. A springtime poll revealed 59% of
the populace favors a return to the lira.

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Cleveland Institute of Art, Russell B.
Aitken Auditorium

... continued from above

A Boston consulting group
claims Italy is the ninth
most desirable place in the
world to work, despite a
stagnant economy and high
unemployment. One fourth
of the more than 200,000
polled
from
worldwide
countries said they would like
to work in Italy, which ranks
behind Australia and Spain
and ahead of Sweden. Rome
finished 10th as the most
appealing city to work. The
U.S. topped the list as the
most desirable country in the
world to work and the United
Kingdom was runner-up.
London, New York and Paris
were the top appealing cities.
---------------Among young Italians hoping
to find new jobs in Europe,
Britain is the top choice,
with Germany, Switzerland
and France following, in that
order, as next most popular
destinations. In 2013 more
than one third of those
who left Italy aged between
18 and 34. That age group
tops the Italian jobless rate
at more than 40 percent.

­4

---------------On the brighter side, the
wet summer and sunny
autumn has led to reduced
prices for Italy’s prized white
truffles. The bumper harvest
revealed a record haul by
truffle hunters. The white
variety is mostly found in the
dirt of the Piemonte region.
Alba and Asti are most
famous for their diggings.
---------------A money shortage has left
the Rome Opera House with
little recourse but to fire their
entire orchestra and chorus.
The Opera House, facing
tens of millions of Euros in
debt, sacked 182 musicians
and chorus members. Union
head,
Paolo
Terrinoni,
representing the performers
said, “It’s a mortal blow for
the opera house but also
for the culture overall in
Rome and the rest of Italy.”
---------------Looking at the economic
health of the Euro zone,
key factors reveal Italian
and Spanish manufacturing
output is up, while German
and French production is
down. Though there have
been improvements in some

nations, the overall outlook
for the Euro zone is near
stagnation and remains poor.
---------------The pizzerias of Italy have
taken a hit from Neapolitan
television reporter, Bernardo
Iovene. Investigating pizzerias
in Naples and elsewhere, he
reported potential multiple
health issues because of less
desirable pizza ingredients.
A Venice University ecotoxicologist, Guido Perini,
told Iovene that carcinogens
from
smoky
ovens,
substandard
ingredients
and poor hygiene have been
found in samples sent for
scientific analysis. Perini
claims that carcinogens are
absorbed into pizzas through
smoky ovens or burnt flour.
“It’s the same air you breathe
behind a motor truck,” added
Perini. Igniting an intense
controversy, the local pizza
association, in defense of
the pizza making industry,
claimed the analysis was
faulty and based on burnt bits
rather than the whole pizz K