Italy’s new PM Enrico Letta owes his leadership to a deal forged with Silvio Berlusconi. With Il Cavaliere still lurking in the background, will anything really change? Rome-based freelancer Josephine McKenna reports.
READ MORE116 Results
Italy’s centre-left turns to Berlusconi in post-election brouhaha
For a party that won a majority in the lower house, Italy’s centre-left has done about as badly in the post-election bargaining as possible, writes Charles Richardson.
READ MOREComedian holds balance of power in Italy, but no one’s laughing
Eight million Italians used their votes to send a message to the major parties by voting for comedian Beppe Grillo. But no one expected he would win. Rome-based journalist Josephine McKenna asks Italians: what now?
READ MORERichard Farmer chunky bits
Are tax policies really the most effective policy to increase retirement savings? Plus other political issues of the day.
READ MOREWhat the Ford ads say about advertising’s boys’ club
The real issue with the offensive Ford ads is not that they were leaked to the internet. It’s that they were created at all, writes Crikey publisher Marina Go.
READ MOREEurozone set for more pain — and it’s Italy’s fault
Italian voters have rejected austerity, opting instead for Berlusconi and comedian Beppe Grillo at the weekend’s election. This will not end well for the Italian economy, or the eurozone.
READ MOREElections don’t solve Italy’s chaos (or get rid of Silvio)
Italy has once again expressed a deep desire to fail to come to grips with its deep political and structural problems, says Crikey’s man in Europe. Silvio Berlusconi is still standing.
READ MOREItalian-Australians could kick Berlusconi to the kerb once and for all
Italian-Australians will join the rest of Italy in going to the polls this week. The fate of Silvio Berlusconi — and EU financial markets — are at stake. Italian-Australian academic Dr Bruno Mascitelli writes on the choice.
READ MOREDespite spotlight, little hope for Berlusconi political resurrection
Despite international fascination with Silvio Berlusconi, there is little sign of Italians being willing to award him a fourth term in office, writes Charles Richardson.
READ MOREBunga bunga actress stars in Berlusconi political encore
As Berlusconi launches into his daring bid to be prime minister for the fourth time, he is making his own kind of cameo. How does he get away with it? Josephine McKenna reports from Rome.
READ MORE‘The only thing that can save us from Berlusconi is his death’
Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has ended months of speculation and dramatically declared a return to Italian politics. So what’s ‘Il Cavaliere’ up to, asks Josephine McKenna.
READ MOREHold the champagne corks, Berlusconi ain’t leaving yet
Italy’s former PM Silvio Berlusconi had been sentenced to jail — yet he’s already discussing his political comeback. And he’s got some supporters, writes Josephine McKenna from Rome.
READ MOREWill Bauer rein in ACP’s at-times cowgirl approach?
Are we about to get a highly principled magazine publisher and owner in the German group, Bauer, which is about to take control of ACP Magazines?
READ MOREThe joke’s on Monti as Berlusconi readies to run for PM
Silvio Berlusconi has re-emerged from the shadows to declare himself a candidate for prime minister next year, writes Josephine McKenna, an Australian freelance journalist in Rome.
READ MOREHi ho Silvio, a way … to come back as a minister
In the past couple of weeks he has been staging a highly manipulative resurrection of sorts, writes Josephine McKenna, an Australian freelance journalist in Rome
READ MOREMerkel cool on fund flexibility as leaders back growth package
When German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to a meeting of European leaders in Rome on Friday, she already had her eye on the exit, writes Josephine McKenna, an Australian freelance journalist in Rome.
READ MOREGrey-haired comic becomes the face of Italy’s disaffected
Beppe Grillo is an unlikely political hero. He is a comedian with a caustic wit better suited to stand-up rather than the Italian parliament, writes Josephine McKenna, an Australian freelance journalist in Rome.
READ MOREAs Italian labour reforms come to a head, jobs are hard to find
The Prime Minister’s main focus now is Article 18 of the labour code, which means firms with more than 15 workers cannot sack employees without risking legal action, writes Josephine McKenna, an Australian freelance journalist in Rome.
READ MOREIn Italy turning a blind eye has become an artform
Italy’s credit rating may be heading south and plenty of businesses are struggling to survive, but in a country where so much is hidden, there is often growth where you don’t see it, writes Jo McKenna, a Rome-based freelance journalist.
READ MOREMonti woos with his package, unlike Silvio, who ‘who hooed’ with his
There wasn’t an empty seat in the house when Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti greeted an eager foreign press yesterday with his €30 billion emergency package, writes Josephine McKenna, a freelance journalist in Rome.
READ MOREEurope’s stuck, nothing changes in Italy, and the Pope must die
So Europe remains stuck in a common currency whose structural flaws it cannot resolve — and certainly cannot resolve without major reform in Italy, where the breathing space offered by the appointment of Mario Monti has been resisted.
READ MORERundle in Rome: peoples of Europe rise up, and demand la dolce vita
Southern Europe has held to an entirely different conception of life, one in which full human beings still have room to breathe. As the Eurozone collapses, the people of Europe should look to them now for how to live.
READ MOREMaley: the market’s Spanish inquisition
The new Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy faces a test of fire this week, as investors query whether the country will be able to protect itself from being engulfed by the raging eurozone debt crisis.
READ MORECan new leaders end the eurozone debt crisis?
Weeks of political upheaval resulted in both Greece and Italy getting new heads of government. But the replacements will have to face the same difficult economic circumstances that killed the political careers of their former leaders, says Michael S
READ MOREItaly’s Monti appointment a concession to bewilderment
The very fact that Monti and Papademos can step so easily into their appointed roles is clear evidence that the European political crisis began long before they got the call.
READ MORE

















