Elections

Berlusconi or Five Star: Italy loses either way, minister says

Italy’s economic development minister slams former premier Silvio Berlusconi and Five Star Movement for deluding voters ahead of March elections, saying respective platforms would jeopardise country’s financial stability and spook markets.

bloomberg

09.01.2018

(Bloomberg) Carlo Calenda, a former manager for Ferrari who is a member of Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni’s centre-left government without holding a parliamentary seat, issued his warning in an interview with Bloomberg Television eight weeks out from elections that polls suggest will yield no clear winner.

Against a backdrop of political uncertainty, plans by a centre-right coalition led by Berlusconi for more spending on pensions, as well as cancelling several taxes, "will lead to a very dangerous situation in terms of financial stability" and quickly wipe out progress made by Gentiloni’s Democratic Party government, said Calenda.