News from Italy

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio

Rome [ENA] Italy is the land of the sun, a sun that is strong enough to dazzle sometimes important news. But now it’s September and the sun is no more so strong. Opening with a hit, the main news today in Italy is that three-time former premier and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi is in good shape after tested positiving for the coronavirus. Then, the Premier Conte says reopening schools is a priority. And last but not least,

among the top news is Venice Film Festival. On the other side, among the top news story, 51 million Italians are called to the polls again for two days in September 2020, for the confirmatory constitutional referendum. The referendum to be held is on the question of the cut of the members of parliament. Anyway, in 7 regions - during the same days and at the same time - the polling stations will also be open for regional elections and for municipal elections which will also be delivered in over a thousand cities. The Constitutional Court has given the green light to the election day on September 20th and 21st and then to the unification of the various electoral rounds postponed due to the COVID19 emergency.

A referendum in Italy is not a simple referendum. It is gradually becoming a vote concerning the government and above all a vote on the Five Stars Movement. The real news is the in the comment of the latest Istat ( National Institute of Statistics) report on the second quarter of 2020. The report highlights that the complete estimate of the quarterly income statements confirms the exceptional extent of the Italian GDP fall in the second quarter of the year 2020 due to the economic effects of the COVID19 emergency and of the containment measures adopted.

The fall is 12.8% in short-term terms and 17.7% on a long-term trend, a fact never recorded since 1995. In the preliminary estimate the short-term decline was equal to 12.4% .    In August the national consumer price index, barring tobacco, showed an increase of 0.3% on a monthly basis and a fall of 0.5% on an annual basis, down from 0.4% the previous month. These data are disturbing because they challenge the country's resilience. And above all Italy is waiting for European Union funds to restart.