Snippets from the Italian Scene
Umbrella Gossip: Politics
Enough of the goings on around the world. With the arrival of summer those who can in Italy head to the beaches, if not for a couple of weeks, at least for the weekends, and it's time for the annual Umbrella Gossip rundown. This week much of the attention has been focused on politics: on the one hand, thousands of protesters have announced that they will don home-made riot gear and do their best to disrupt the upcoming G8 meeting in Genova. Considering the layout of the city, a narrow, flat strip of land right up against the shore, with the newer neighborhoods climbing the flanks of the mountains inland, things will likely become quite confusing, and running away could be very difficult if things turn ugly, as they well may. One wonders who approved of Genova as a site for a controversial meeting.
The other political thing to worry about is the budget deficit; last night (Jul 12) Mr. Tremonti, the Minister of Finance, appeared on the National news with a poster board and sketched graphs to show that the deficit will be at least 30,000 billion Lire (about 15 billion dollars) higher than expected, and that this will make the tax cut Prime Minister Berlusconi promised during the campaign this spring considerably more difficult. Howls of protests from the opposition and the unions, who accused Tremonti of spreading panic, but then again, if the situation is as he says, people should know.
A presto,
Kyle Phillips
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