I don’t know how relevant this is, but it’s worth noting that of today’s rebels — those who voted for the government in the Camera — none has a declared 2008 income which is greater than the median declared income:
Antonio Razzi – 129161 (bottom 40%)
Domenico Scilipoti – 86479 (bottom 5%)
Maria Grazia Siliquini – 129009 [...]
I’m not sure what will happen tomorrow in the vote of confidence in the Camera. But the FT is billing it as heralding a period of “prolonged political uncertainty” no matter what happens.
I wonder how the bond markets will react. Italy’s ten-year spread w.r.t. German bonds was 161.4 basis points, not as bad as Portugal [...]
Repubblica runs the numbers of what’ll happen five days from now in the confidence vote. The options they list?
Centre-right w/o Berlusconi (PdL, Lega, Fli, UDC)
Technical government (FLI, UDC, Mpa, API, PD)
Electoral law reform government (as above, plus IDV)
PDL + Lega with dissolution of the Camera
The last strikes me as most fanciful.
Really puzzled why the story about Berlusconi getting a kickback on gas deals makes the Guardian top story, and Repubblica’s frontpage, but only ranks fifth on corriere.it, behind a story about a trawler…
It seems that the current Berlusconi government won’t now carry on as it was.
If Berlusconi wants to stay in power, he can try and bring the UDC on board. But sa molto di Prima Repubblica, of the kinds of variable geometries that Berlusconi disdains and tried to make unconstitutional.
So it looks like dojero was [...]
Strangely, Berlusconi’s issues with Ruby Rubacuori have gained more traction than many other arguably more serious issues. Two parliamentarians have jumped ship to join Gianfranco Fini. Is this significant?
CALL FOR PAPERS: CONFERENCE GROUP ON ITALIAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY (CONGRIPS), 107TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN POLTIICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION (APSA), SAN FRANCISCO, 1-4 SEPTEMBER 2011
In order to mark the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, papers are invited which seek to throw light on the significance of Unification itself for an understanding of the nature [...]
Italian presidents play a generally low-profile, but crucially important, role in the country’s political system, responsible as they are for mediating and regulating with the aim of ensuring that political processes are carried on without threatening national integration. This importance appears to be reflected in the results of surveys which regularly show much higher levels [...]
Anyone know how much, as a percent, each party asks its deputies and senators to contribute to the party from their indennità? or how this is enforced? or if there’s a paper trial?