Debt crisis? Economic doldrums? Impending insolvency, and the threat of an EU-IMF bailout in Italy? "So what," shrugs a baker in the Roman neighbourhood of Monti, showing little concern about Italy's financial situation having become one of the eurozone's main headaches.
"Business is going well, mine at least. Can't you tell?" He points at the queue of customers standing in line for cornetti and some pizza bianca. While Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government is desperately looking for more austerity measures, half of the Italian population is enjoying their summer holidays on beaches and mountains.
Their apparent indifference contrasts with countries such as Spain, which has been equally affected by the recent financial market turbulence, and where an entire protest movement has emerged against the high unemployment and other economic woes.
"Yes, we are selling fewer newspapers," one kiosk owner concedes. "But maybe that's also due to the summer holidays." He shrugs and adds that "those up there" will do what they like anyway. While the debt crisis is pressuring the Italian government, ordinary Italians seem weary and perplexed about it.
"We are angry and depressed, but we have to look ahead," a RAI radio host encourages her listeners in a style reminiscent of Berlusconi's optimism, and then plays a quick blues piece by Pino Daniele from Naples. Italians are wondering whether pension cuts, taxes on second homes or a higher value added tax will be waiting for them back home after their summer break. "Vedremo" - "we'll see" - is generally the laconic answer.
Some may be quite amused by thinking about Berlusconi and his conservative team working up a sweat in Rome while they are lying on the beach. The government is desperately seeking to save 20 billion euros (28 billion dollars) in order to achieve budget balance by 2013 instead of 2014. With an increasing number of crisis meetings taking place, and rumours of a possible collapse of Italy's financial and economic system because of the state's colossal debt, it may seem odd that the situation in Italy has remained strikingly quiet.
Maybe this is the Italian way of handling any crisis: most people do not trust the state, the politicians and the head of government anyway, so they have already adjusted to managing their lives despite economic constraints, analysts say. "We are used to thinking that there is a solution to any problem," is how the Turin-based newspaper La Stampa put it.
This time, however, the rule might not apply: "If the German government is asking itself if it would be more expensive to help Italy or to leave it to its fate, then we should ask ourselves why this question has been raised," the daily wrote. Most holidaymakers on Sardinia or at the Adriatic coast will not be very inclined to do so. They are trying to forget about politics and financial problems during their holidays. The worst may come later on.
Italians have been hardened by the daily struggle for survival, observers say. Italian society and the economy have been stagnant for years. Millions of young people are unemployed, and many pensioners have become impoverished. Initially, Berlusconi had planned on implementing painful budget cuts only after the next elections, which are scheduled for 2013. These measures are thus not having any effect yet. But now the government in Rome is under growing pressure to do something about the budget deficit. Have Italians given up on their economy, or did the Berlusconi-controlled media lull them into sleep? Maybe the students who tried to stage street protests a few months ago will do so again in the autumn, analysts said.
Comments
Comments are closed.