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Italy

Renovation required

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Giorgia Meloni’s new government must make deep reforms if Italy is to regain its lost vitality, argues John Peet

2KAEJXH Rome, Italy. 02nd Nov, 2022. Italy, Rome, November 2, 2022 : Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, participates in the swearing ceremony of the Undersecretaries of State. Photo Remo Casilli/Sintesi/Alamy Live News

Wanted: an Italian Thatcher

Italy’s new government needs to make deep economic reforms

But Giorgia Meloni may not have the desire or the experience to make them, says John Peet

VENICE, ITALY - MARCH 13: An Orthodox Jewish man pauses on a bridge over a canal in the old Jewish ghetto on March 13, 2022 in Venice, Italy. Tourists have gradually begun to return to the city, whose economy relies primarily on the tourism industry, as successful vaccination campaigns against the coronavirus (COVID-19) have lowered the frequency of severe infection.  (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images Europe)

The cost of vulnerability

External shocks have hit the Italian economy hard

They have also exacerbated internal weaknesses

The statue of Sallustio Bandini, an economist and politician, in Piazza Salimbeni in front of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA bank headquarters in Siena, Italy, on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Monte Paschi, the world's oldest bank, will seek to raise as much as 2.5 billion euros ($2.64 billion) of new equity and cut about 4,000 jobs as part of the Italian lenders latest plan to replenish capital and boost profitability. Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Spreadeagled

Why is Italy’s public-debt burden so big?

It is the denominator, not the numerator, that is the real problem

2H79MD8 Rome, Italy. 21 November 2021. A pile of rubbish  at a collection point remains uncollected in a Rome northern suburb . Rome has been been plagued by a garbage crisis that has lasted for months due to a strike by binmen and the closure of a major landfill site that has caused anger and raised health concerns amongst residents. Credit: amer ghazzal/Alamy Live News

Structural faults

Italy’s protected sectors need exposure to more competition

Their approach to management and the labour market need a shake-up, too

CEFALU, ITALY - JULY 10: People swim in the old town during summer season as local and foreigner tourists start to gather in Cefalu, the old town in Palermoâs province (Sicily), included in the UNESCOâs heritage list for its Arab-Norman architecture, Italy on July 10, 2022. The wide coastline, with sandy and rocky beaches, also attracts tourists. (Photo by Valeria Ferraro/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Sunrise or sunset?

Southern Italy needs private enterprise and infrastructure

It does not just need more public money

Protesters protest with placards in Bari in Piazza Libertà against the economic consequences that the war in Ukraine is producing, in Bari on February 25, 2022.According to the organizers' estimates, about 2,500 farmers, fishermen and ranchers participated in the national protest called by Coldiretti in Bari, in Piazza Libertà, against the war in Ukraine that is destroying the economy and against the rising fuel prices that do not allow economic operators to cover production costs.In the square there are also boats, tractors and animals, including some cows.There was also protest against the impossibility of delivering the catch at zero kilometer due to the truck strike, as well as for the damage to perishable products such as fruit, vegetables, mushrooms and flowers that are still in the warehouses. (Photo by Davide Pischettola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Italy’s bane

Political instability in Italy has always affected reform

Can Giorgia Meloni stay in power long enough to buck the trend?

1(one) Euro homes up for sale in Mussomeli and Sambuca, Sicily. Robert Hardman words.

The houses that Giuseppe sold

Italy is trying to deal with its demographic decline

Some deserted southern towns are taking innovative approaches

ROME, ITALY - OCTOBER 25: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni delivers her speech during the debate ahead of the confidence vote on the new Italian government in the Chamber of Deputies at Montecitorio Palace, on October 25, 2022 in Rome, Italy. Italians voted in far-right politician Giorgia Meloni as Italy's first woman Prime Minister. The 2022 Italian general election on 25 September was called after the dissolution of parliament was announced by Italian President Sergio Mattarella on 21 July. (Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)

A new reform spirit

Italy needs to learn from other countries on structural changes

It cannot afford to retreat from them as it has before

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The challenge of the age

Climate adaptation

The challenge of the age

Special reports -

Adapting to climate change is urgent, feasible and woefully underfunded, argues Edward McBride