Italians are tired of living under austerity. That could be a big problem for Europe.

[TexasTowelie]

Will Italy’s new government be able to reboot the economy? With national debt at 131.8 percent of GDP, unemployment at 11.2 percent and one of the slowest growth rates in the euro zone, the Italian economy has been struggling for some time.

Italians are struggling as well. Austerity measures mandated by the European Union since the beginning of the decade failed to sort out longtime structural problems. Rome has few economic tools to jump-start the economy because euro-zone countries agree to follow E.U. monetary guidance aimed at stabilizing the currency for all euro-zone members.

Despite some E.U. concessions obtained by former prime minister Matteo Renzi, the country is still obliged to severely reduce its budget deficit and public debt to respect the European guidelines and avoid heavy economic sanctions.

Tensions are rising between Italy and the E.U. leadership over the lagging economy, resulting in a drastic shift in Italian public opinion. Italians are tired of living under the E.U.’s strict fiscal rules. That is our finding, which is based on data from surveys in 2013 and 2017 carried out by the University of Siena for the Istituto Affari Internazionali.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/07/25/italians-are-tired-of-living-under-austerity-that-could-be-a-big-problem-for-europe/?utm_term=.ba616b2e3085

[lapfog_1]

1. austerity, like every other conservative economic policy

will not work and is likely making the situation worse, not better.

[marble falls]

2. Maybe they read the Sunday NYT .....

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/22/business/portugal-economy-austerity.html

Portugal Dared to Cast Aside Austerity. It’s Having a Major Revival.

At a time of mounting uncertainty in Europe, the country has defied critics who insisted on austerity as the answer to the Continent’s economic and financial crisis.