I waited for the paper editions of Repubblica and the Corriere della Sera to check out the results of the administrative elections held over the weekend. Headline results are this: in the five major contests, the centre-right won two (presidency of the Sicilian region retained by Toto Cuffaro; Letizia Moratti becomes mayor of Milan), the [...]
Just been reading Simon Hix and Andreas Follesdal on the ‘democratic deficit’ in the Journal of Common Market Studies (subscription only). Here’s the argument, in a nutshell:
The new ’standard version’ of the democratic deficit argument:
European integration has strengthened national executives at the expense of national parliaments; national executives’ actions in Europe are now decreasingly subject [...]
Home Page – Openpolis: “Questo sito serve per organizzare i contributi comunitari alla progettazione e realizzazione dei sistemi.” An absolutely excellent site which aims to do for Italian politics what Public Whip or TheyWorkForYou did for UK politics. Unfortunately, they’re limited by the availability of data on the Camera and Senate websites, which hold information [...]
Ecco il governo Prodi: 9 Ds, 7 Dl Amato all’Interno, Difesa a Parisi – Politica – Repubblica.it
Very useful article outlines the shape of Prodi’s coalition. Here are some first thoughts:
First, it augurs well for the cabinet stability that all parties – including Rif. Communista, Udeur, and the Comunisti Italiani – are represented in the coalition. [...]
Interesting to check out the reactions to Giorgio Napolitano’s speech to Parliament today (speech available at the Quirinale site). For the left, Alleanza Nazionale, and the UDC, the speech was good. For Forza Italia and the Lega, it was product of a “dated culture” (Sandro Bondi), or, worse, a deliberate slight to the centre-right in [...]
The Garante della Concorrenza has just ruled that Berlusconi didn’t violate conflict of interest rules when his government approved aid for digital TV decoders. Ruling is available here, English summary here.
I can’t say that I’m very impressed with the quality of the ruling. The MSN report linked to above gives a very partial account of [...]
Repubblica.it gives the latest ‘diretta’ on the search for a President. The left claims that the right has agreed on Giorgio Napolitano, former President of the Chamber of Deputies.
The coverage shows the consociational model for extra-governmental appointments in Italy:
First, both coalitions either announce their favoured candidate or are interpreted to favour a particular candidate; these [...]
La Repubblica.it has an interesting article about a fight between the Rosa nel Pugno and the Udeur in the battle for places in the future Prodi government. According to the traditional ‘voci non confermate’, Emma Bonino of the Rosa had been a shoe-in for the post of EU Affairs, and Clemente Mastella of the Udeur [...]