Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister

Berlusconi’s latest planned budget cut has not let people indifferent.

Singers Bono, Annie Lenox, Jovanotti, Miguel Bose, Antonello Venditti and actors Colin Firth, Scarlet Johansson and Gael Garcia Bernal have sent an open letter to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi regarding his intention of drastically cutting the amount of money Italy gives to poor countries every year.The letter was published in the business newspaper “Il Sole 24 Ore” and makes an appeal to Berlusconi’s sense of responsibility.

The senders point out that cutting those funds will cause a great loss of credibility for Italy, which would be quite prejudicial; especially that Italy is scheduled to host a G-8 summit next summer.

This year, Italy has already reduced funds for the development of poor countries by 170 million euros and Berlusconi’s plan would mean a reduction of other 400 million.

The artists have mentioned that, despite the world crisis, other countries of G-8, such as France and Spain, have respected the norms established and kept the funds at the level they are supposed to be.

Alitalia Aircraft

Alitalia, Italy’s national airline company, has been in a critical situation ever since two years ago. Several attempts have been made to save the company since then, and airlines such as Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and British Airways have been involved in the process.

On Friday, the Italian investors’ group CAI (Compagni Aerea Italiana) has made a 1 billion Euros offer for Alitalia and they hope that in the future they will be able to join one of the major European Airlines.

Unfortunately, this offer has a down size, as this purchase will mean that more than 3,000 people will lose their jobs. Some Alitalia trade unions are still against this offer, although negotiations have been carried out for a long time.

The rescue plan states that CAI will have 12,500 people working for Alitalia, 3,500 less than now. Apart from the personnel cut, they will also cease activity on unprofitable routes and will get rid of some of the older aircrafts.

Experts advise the deal must follow EU competition rules; otherwise Alitalia is sure to declare bankruptcy.
The Italian government has even made modifications to the bankruptcy laws in order to keep the national airline alive, and the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is most keen to settle a deal as soon as possible.

Italian Riot Police

Last week, the Italian authorities, acting as per Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s instructions, have made major education cuts.

This law has not remained without an answer. Tens of thousands of people affected by it (teachers, students, even parents) have demonstrated against it on the streets of Italian cities like Milan, Turin, Venice, Naples and Rome.

Cutting the education budget with several billions of Euro is likely to cause the loss of almost 130,000 teaching jobs.

The organizers of the protests have said that 90% of the Italian schools have been closed and that almost one million persons marched in Rome, but there is no official statement regarding this aspect.

The new education law includes several changes of the teaching system: primary school children will have only one all-purpose teacher for five years, and they will receive grades, in order to evaluate their conduct.

The opposition is currently trying to raise the necessary number of signatures that will allow the organization of a referendum on these reforms.

Parmigiano Reggiano

In view of the financial crisis affecting the world’s economy, Italy is faced with a crisis of its own. The Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano) producers are extremely discontent about the ever higher production costs and the ever falling prices.

They have decided to appeal to the government for help and they ask for higher selling prices for their products, as according to them, are much lower than the fabrication costs.

Parmigiano Reggiano is considered one of Italy’s national symbols and is therefore of great importance to all, including the Government. With that in mind and also thinking about the number of jobs that would be lost, the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has initiated a series of discussions with the producers.

Market studies show that Italy produces an 11% more parmesan than eight years ago, and that happens despite the fact that the Italian populations consumes less.

Due to the abundance of producing companies, the supermarket chains can now purchase whole sale parmigiano on much lower prices than before. This is one of the reasons for which the producers ask for the prices per kilogram go from 7-7.5 euros to at least 8 -8.5 euros.