LONDON | Barclays Reasearch | The market’s confidence has increased, but we still see important challenges that weigh on Italy’s outlook. Political instability is the main risk that could hamper Italy’s ability to tackle these issues.
The Corner Team | The deal for Spain’s Telefonica to raise its stake in Telco and control Telecom Italia will be ready before Friday, according to Economía Digital. An operation that prevents Carlos Slim, through America Movil, or American competitor AT&T from taking positions in the Italian market. Telefónica’s peace of mind is worth 324 million euros ($437 million).
The Corner Team | Spanish Telefónica is in talks to become the main shareholder of Telco, Telecom Italia’s holding company, which is struggling with a millionaire debt and a fiercely competitive market, Dow Jones reports. The proposal under discussion would have Telefónica increasing its stake to 70% before next week.
By Tim Parks via Presseurop | ‘Vote me out of jail, or I will bring the country down with me’. This is the message Il Cavaliere has just sent to the Italian government, ahead of a Senate decision on whether he will lose his seat after being convicted of tax fraud. Such blackmail speaks volumes about the state of Italy in 2013, says British writer Tim Parks.
BARCELONA | By Enric Fernandez | Both institutions and culture have a lot of inertia. There is no doubt, however, that this is much more the case with culture. Implementing a cultural change is surely impossible in the short term.
LONDON/MADRID | Financial analysts in Madrid noted today the positive surprise of a recovery tendency among Eurozone peripheral economies, particularly those of Italy and Spain.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | Unlike Spain, where the external sector is supporting the economy, Italian exports fell by 1.9% in 1Q13, its worst register from 1Q09. The country’s GDP dropped by 0.6%, and April’s industrial production by 0.3%.
MADRID | By Antonio Sánchez-Gijón at CapitalMadrid | On May 9 the European Union will deliver Charlemagne Prize to Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite. The idea is not to reward her as a former EC Commissioner, but as the person who embodies the success of three small countries of Northern Europe out of their deep economic crisis in two years. While the populations of the Mediterranean Europe and France are raised in arms against austerity policies imposed from Brussels and Frankfurt to exit the stagnation and save the euro, two European Baltic nations are looking forward to joining the common currency.
MADRID | By Antonio Sánchez-Gijón (Capital Madrid) | What is on stake for the new Italian government? The country is living in a contradiction: on one hand it has debt and risk premium under control, but on the other it is struggling with a deep economic crisis. Moody’s has corrected its 2013 GDP forecast set so far at -1%, and has placed it at -1.8%.
ROME | Nadia Urbinati | The stalemate over the election of the President of the Republic, which broke on April 20 with the re-election of Giorgio Napolitano and the resignation of the leadership of the Democratic Party, is the highwater mark of the crisis in the Italian political system. To save that system, we must move ahead immediately with reforms, starting with electoral reform.