LyrArc Article Gist
In this interview just before Mario Draghi of the ECB announced a 1 trillion euro program of monetary easing in the eurozone, Renzi calls on European leaders to carefully balance austerity with growth efforts. He says flexibility is essential and a part of the history of Europe. Now is the time to change direction, to invest in growth, says Renzi. On calls to change the Schengen Agreement which removed border controls among some European countries, Renzi says this is not needed after the terrorist attacks in France, pointing out that the terrorists in the attack had lived in France for many years.

LyrArc Article Gist
Italians look to a new future after the resignation of Berlusconi, and the end of the Belusconi era in Italian politics.

LyrArc Article Gist
Mario Monti, the head of the new Italian government after the resignation of prime minister Berlusconi, taught political economy at Bocconi University in Milan. He is the president of Bocconi University. He spent a decade in Brussels as a member of the European Commission. He was commissioner of internal markets, and then served as commissioner for competition. He is known for antitrust enforcement during his work as EU commissioner of competition. First, blocking the merger of Honeywell and General Electric, and then imposing a fine of $650 million on Microsoft for antitrust violations. He is also the honorary president of Bruegel, an economics research institute in Brussels. Monti is an outsider to Italian politics in Rome and depends on the goodwill of the political parties to implement his program.

LyrArc Article Gist
This Washington Post Editorial Board Opinion asks Europe to get serious about its energy needs and finding alternate supplies than Hormuz, that the US president DJT is sending the right message "Go get your own oil." And this is true also for China, Japan, South Korea and India. What there is no need for is the posturing of these countries when it is China and Japan that are dependent on Hormuz strait and that region for 90% of their imports, not the US which is zero dependent and self sufficient. Germany has shown the way with only 6% of its imports from that region, Italy and Britain have not acted to find other alternate supplies. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Matteo Renzi, 37, the mayor of Florence, wins 35% of the vote in primaries for the centre left Democratic party in Nov. 2012. This was a challenge to party leader, Luigi Bersani, who won 44.9% of the vote. Renzi appealed directly to younger voters.

LyrArc Article Gist
Borg Brende, a former foreign minister of Norway, resigns from leading Davos Economic Forum over Epstein connections- astonishingly he interviewed Merz other leaders on Davos Forum broadcasts. This is one more reason that Davos or Switzerland is not where one should look to or for a real understanding of what is happening in the world that extends to places that have little in common with Switzerland, and look very different, from Japan to India and China, from Spain to Italy, and from Canada and the US to Britain and Australia, from Brazil to Chile and Argentina. So many other forums exist and so much happens there, there is also the G-20 and other world gatherings, and meetings of regional leaders where so much more happens.

LyrArc Article Gist
Italian cooking in Italy- do's and don'ts for good Italian cooking. Food, agriculture around food is big in Italy. It adds up to $228 billion with huge export potential. Packaged product including pasta at $100 billion and about $136 billion for product consumed in restaurants and coffee shops. UNESCO has given its label to Italy as a top culinary place in the world.

LyrArc Article Gist
Alitalia may be sold to private companies, to Air France, KLM or to Italian banking companies. Italy's government wants to sell half of its 49.9% stake . Alitalia has a market value of 1.33 billion euros. Any buyer will have to keep its Italian identity, job guarantees, and keep national routes. Any buyer buying a 30.1% stake has to make a mandatory bid for the rest of the shares according to Italian rules.

LyrArc Article Gist
Canada's Carney gives up on USMCA renegotiated deal with US as he makes deal with China Jan 2026. No date is set for USMCA renegotiation. Carney stepped up the criticism of the US and suggested middle powers find their way by makiing deals of their own. This has drawn criticism from DJT, Luttnick and Scott Bessent, the Commerce Secretary and Treasury Secretary. Canada's economy has some fragile points in its dependence on the US and this may not be the wise course of action for Canada at this time. Germany, Italy, are meeting on February 12 and Europe may follow a different course of action of working with the US, India is close to a trade deal, so that Carney's and other remarks about going to partner with China at a gathering as isolated as Davos is from the real world may be very counterproductive.

LyrArc Article Gist
An ad for a state sponsored campaign to promote women having babies on "Fertility Day," September 22, in Italy, shows a man holding a cigarette that is half burned, with the line: "Don't let your sperm go up in smoke."  The ads were deemed offensive and were withdrawn. Women say the problem is not that women don't want to have babies. It is because women depend on grandparents to provide childcare in a country that lacks enough child care facilities. Companies are still backward when it comes to offering flexible hours for women with small children. Birthrate in Italy is about 1.37 per woman compared to France at about 2.0, because France does better at flexible hours, and social safety net that includes day care and subsidies for families with children. In fact women say in cities it is prudent for women to think about having a second child because of work related issues. Italy spends less on social protection benefits- about 1% of GDP. Has a low female employment rate with some young women having to sign a pre-sign a resignation letter. Only recently did premier Renzi introduce a baby bonus of 80 to 160 euros. But the culture at work and the social support net is not encouraging. ...