Italian Salaries Among the Lowest in OCED

A new study shows that Italian salaries are among the lowest in the 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Based on data from 2009, Italian salaries ranked 23^rd of 31 for salaries and 16.5 percent below the OECD average.

Last year, the average annual Italian salary was calculated around $22,027 compared to the OCED average of $26,395, the euro area average of $28,454 and the European Union Average of $25,253. These averages are based on a single-person household and on purchasing power, although Italy also ranked 23^rd for salaries in a four-person household (including a mother, father and two children).

Italian salaries are the lowest in the Group of Seven (G7) including the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France and Canada. The salaries in Italy are also lower than the countries currently facing financial turmoil, like Greece, Spain and Ireland, although they were higher than Portugal, Czech Republic, Turkey, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Mexico. I am honestly very confused about this report because Italy has such a high number of immigrants so I am wondering what effect this has on immigration.

Italian Bailout Plan

One of the major stories that has broken in Italy is Greece’s horrible debt and the plan by the European Union to help. I believe it is important to talk about the effects of the debt because it directly effects the market in all the other EU countries. The debt in Greece has caused the euro to go down significantly, from about 1.60 euro to 1.25 euro per dollar.

Friday, May 7, the Italian cabinet approved a decree to give a significant bailout load to Greece. Their initial contribution will be a little over 5.5 billion euros and another 14.8 billion euros over the next three years. This decree, which takes immediate effect, must be approved by parliament within the next 60 days.

In a statement made by Premier Silvio Berlusconi he made it very clear that “the aim of the Italian government is to work to reach a solution which is common and shared, capable of placing Europe in the best position possible to deal with the crisis”.

Italy is third in contributing to the joint 110-billion-euro bailout package for Greece, falling behind Germany (22.4 billion euros) and France (16.8 billion euros).

Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti stated that Italys contribution will not weigh on the bugit, instead explaining that the loan will increase public debt. Tremonti also stated that “it is our hope that they will agree that it is not enough to respond to this crisis. We need to look forward, learn our lessons and adopt all those measures necessary to ensure things like this one never happens again,” because the financial and economic imbalances threaten “the stability not only of that country but of the whole euro area”.

Video on how some believe Italy is the biggest threat to the Euro.

I think when talking about Italian politics it is extremely important to discuss the Lega Nord (North League), which is a political party in Italy consisted of regional parties from Central and Northern Italy. It is a political party that I heard about everyday while living in Italy and honestly I find it frightening.

Its political program calls for the transformation of Italy into a federal state, especially the Northern regions which they call Padina. Basically it advocates the separation of Northern and Southern Italy, which has recently sparked controversy and racism between the two sections of Italy. The leagues culture is a mix of pride in the heritage of northern Italy, distrust of southern Italians and Roman authorities, support for free market economics and independentism, hate for Italy (especially its flag) and claims of Celtic heritage.

They consider themselves a populist party, and the party’s constitution states that the party will end political activity when federalism is obtained. The party is anti-monopolist, anti-immigration, anti elitist and participative. It is one of the few Italian political parties where they do not permit free-masons to join. They “fight against the big powers” and promotes small-ownership, small and medium sized industries and small government against governmental bureaucracy, governments money waste and corruption.

The league itself, to me sounds racist although they have dismissed the claims and say they are nonviolent. However, there have been many speeches and interviews that say otherwise. They also hold strong ties to major players in Italian politics, including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

This is a link to one of the anti-immigration protests from Lega Nord.

Here is a link to one of the uses of propaganda. In english the flyer states "They don't want to make rules on immigration, we are now living on the reserve. THINK! The Lega Nord has confronted with great courage this difficult battle. Continue to support and trust us!"

Cell Phones and Internet Usage in Italy

While I was living in Italy, I noticed that the internet was not as popular as it is in other countries. Many of my Italian friends are just now making e-mail accounts and using online services for products. In America we use the internet for EVERYTHING, from shopping to travel to banking. I remember one time I even tried to buy my boyfriend an airline ticket online but they didn’t trust the internet, so they went to a travel agency instead.

There are many reasons for the slow development of e-commerce in Italy, the main reason being the Italian distributive structure which is made up of many small, specialized shops instead of larger corporate companies. Other reasons include: a lack of PCs in the home, fear of web-based interactions, and the fact that Italians historically like to do business face-to-face.

Another technological difference that I saw first hand was that credit card usage in Italy is pretty much non-existent. They conduct business solely in cash, a concept that was relatively new to a Southern California girl who is used to using a debit card for all my transactions.

Telephones usage in Italy is also changing rapidly. Due to high costs per call, many Italians have multiple phones (ie. a phone to call, a phone to text and a smart phone to play games, take pictures, and surf the internet).

I think that Italy is starting to expand their technology, and even the government is on board with this. The government buys computers with tax payers money for high school students in order to encourage the expansion of the internet.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties in Modern Day Italy

This is just a little more information of Italian rights, civil liberties and government organization in modern day Italy which I found on Freedomhouse.org.

The Italian government is an electoral democracy, where the president is elected for a seven-year term by Parliament and other representatives of Italy’s regions. Although elected the president’s role is usually ceremonial however sometimes politically influential. The president is also able to choose the prime minister, who is often the leader of the largest party in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies. The upper house is the Senate and both chamber members serve five-year terms. The president today is Giorgio Napolitano, a former member of the Communist party who was elected in 2006.

Although Italy has changed its government 50 times since 1945, corruption in politics remains a major issue in Italian government today. On the 2008 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, Italy came in at number 55 of 180 countries surveyed.

Current Prime Minister Berlusconi has faced many corruptions charges over the years, including ties to the mafia, however he has never been convicted. He has completely avoided trials and is now immune from prosecution due to the bill that passed which gives members of the government immunity from prosecution, needless to say, the bill was a diruption to the justice system that directly benefited Berlusconi.

In Italy freedom of speech and press is constitutionally guaranteed, however with Berlusconi’s return to parliament and 90 percent control over Italy’s broadcast media, you can see how the media could be influenced. The internet in Italy is mostly unrestricted, however the government does block foreign websites if they violate national laws, and they monitor websites in an effort to catch child pornographers.

Freedom of religion is also guaranteed by the constitution, although Roman Catholicism is the dominant faith, and the state grants privileges to the Catholic Church.

Other freedoms Italian citizens have include, academic freedom, freedom to assemble and form social and political associations. One area in which Italy differs majorly from the united states is the judicial system which has long trial days and influence of organized crime.

FREEDOM HOUSE INFORMATION

In order to find out more about Italy’s political righs and civil liberties I went online and looked at Freedomhouse.org, an independent watchdog organization that supports the expansion of freedom around the world. The following is Italy’s freedom ratings from 2009:

Political Rights Score: 1

Civil Liberties Score: 2

Status: FREE

In the past year Italy’s civil liberties rating has declined from 1 to 2 because of the concentration of media outlets under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and interference by organized crime networks in the functioning of private businesses. In April 2008, Parliamentary elections were held three years ahead of schedule because of the collapse of the center-left coalition government led by Prime Minister Romano Prodi, which was then taken over by the former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his center-right coalition. Berlusconi’s return to premiership has since raised concerns about press freedom because it left him in control of both state media and his own private media empire.

I have already spoken previously about Berlusconi’s involvement with the media and how dangerous it is for him to have so much control over it. Freedom house mentions Berlusconi’s many platforms on which he ran, including pledges to crack down on crime and illegal immigration (including measures on fingerprinting Romanian residents, including children…hmmm sound familiar?), which threaten Italy’s civil rights and warns of a “climate of discrimination.”

Although Berlusconi continues to be attacked over corruption allegations, July 2008 parliament passed a law that gives the prime minister and other elected officials immunity from prosecution while they are in office.

Top 10 Daily Italian Newspapers

According to the most recent statistics, there are slightly over 10 million Italian periodicals appearing in Italy, however only a very small percentage of these are daily newspapers which provide general daily news coverage while the rest of them deal with subjects like sports, arts, labor unions and professional areas.

These are the top 10 newspapers in Italy today and their daily circulation:

1. Corriere della Sera 718,000

2. La Repubblica 648,000

3. La Gazzetta dello Sport 458,000

4. Il Sole 24 Ore 410,000

5. La Stampa 399,000

6. Il Messaggero 292,000

7. Corriere dello Sport 285,000

8. Il Giornale 235,000

9. Il Resto del Carfino 188,000

10. La Nazione 155,000

In addition to the daily newspapers dealing with general news information, there are 482 weekly, 384 biweekly, and 2148 monthly magazines. The widest circulated weeklies dealing with general news coverage are Panorama and L'Espresso who are owned by Mediaset-Berlusconi Group and the La Republica group and reflect the current political trends of press coverage.