Revolting Europe
industry
Why Fiat prefers newspapers to cars
Fiat prefers to invest in newspapers these days, rather than car-making. And it is apparently all the fault of the unions. Giorgio Cremaschi explains Announcing this week for the umpteenth time the investment in its Sevel plant in Abruzzo, southern Italy, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said that those investments will be the last in Italy, … Continue reading
Italian lessons on privatisation
Privatisation has benefitted the very few, leading to massive job losses, delivering a bad deal for consumers and sowing the seeds of today’s financial and economic crisis, and yet the process goes on, says Marco Bersani. In an extract from his new book, Bersani surveys the case of Italy, home of one the world’s largest public … Continue reading
The problem with France’s rediscovered dirigisme
The problem with the French government’s nationalization threat is only the timidity of this rediscovered dirigisme The Socialist government is threatening to nationalise a €400m (£323m) steel plant in eastern France, unless the Indian-born billionaire Lakshmi Mittal agrees to sell it to a private buyer. Mittal’s company, ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steel-maker, wants to close … Continue reading
Industrial death in Italy
Italy has paid heavily for embracing the laissez faire approach for its economy. Amid a dramatic collapse of manufacturing industry, it needs to drop the Anglo-Saxon model and draw some lessons from its own industrial past. Mine occupations, blockades of roads, air and sea ports, and attempted suicides, this summer saw the most dramatic protests yet in a … Continue reading
‘It’s a pressure cooker ready to explode’
The closure of an aluminium smelter in a depressed industrial zone on the Italian island of Sardinia has sparked protests by enraged employees On Wednesday they blocked Cagliari airport. Friday they sought to mount a blockade the sea port of the Sardinian city. Workers of the Alcoa aluminium plant are angry – and desperate – … Continue reading
Big business captures European research subsidies
€20.3 billion within the EU’s upcoming research programme are about to be captured by industry: the “Industrial Leadership” component of Horizon 2020 explicitly states that this money will support activities whose agenda is industry-driven. Is transforming research funding into subsidies to big business the best possible use of scarce public funds? More at Corporate … Continue reading
Italy’s death industry is thriving
A survey of Italy’s economy tells a grim story. The country is now in its fourth recession since 2001. Manufacturing is in free fall. Fiat, the country’s largest industrial company, closed one car plant last year. And CEO Sergio Marchionne is now threatening to shut others. Youth unemployment is at record highs of 36%. Yet … Continue reading
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