Italy - Economic and political daily news

JANUARY 14, 2021

GOVERNMENT CRISIS

Premier Giuseppe Conte was considering his options on Thursday after ex-premier Matteo Renzi triggered a government crisis by pulling the support of his small Italia Viva (IV) party. IV’s two ministers finally resigned on Wednesday after weeks of threats from the centrist group focused on differences over the government’s Covid-19 Recovery Plan and its failure to take up the option to obtain around 37 billion euros from the European Stability Mechanism to invest in the national health system. As a result Conte’s coalition executive, which also had the backing of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), the 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the left-wing LeU group, does not appear to have a working majority in parliament. Conte on Thursday told President Sergio Mattarella he wanted to achieve the necessary “political clarification” of the crisis by addressing parliament, the president’s office said. Conte’s options include calling a vote in parliament to see if his executive does have the support of the majority of lawmakers, perhaps with the backing of some so far unidentified ‘responsible’ MPs from outside the ruling coalition. He could also try to form a new government or decide to resign. Another possibility is the formation of a government led by a non-political technocrat. The centre-right opposition is demanding snap elections.

COVID-19

Italy saw 522 new Covid deaths, and 17,246 new cases of the virus in the last 24 hours. The new positivity rate is 10.7%, up from 9% Wednesday.

SILVIO BERLUSCONI

Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi went to a hospital in Monaco Thursday for a heart problem which entailed his being taken there instead of returning to Italy for treatment, his doctor said.

BANK OF ITALY

The Bank of Italy said that the Covid-19 pandemic led to "the biggest contraction in non-financial private incomes in 20 years in the first half of 2020". It said per-capita primary incomes dropped by 8.8% in the first half of 2020 with respect to the same period in 2019.

SPREAD

The spread between Italian and German 10-year bond yields, a gauge of market confidence in Italy, rose seven points to 119 amid the ongoing government crisis on Thursday.