| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Italian cabinet approves tough austerity plan |
| 2011-07-02 |
| [Al Jazeera] The Italian government has approved an austerity package aimed at shielding the country from the Greek debt crisis and eliminating the budget deficit in 2014. The package, drafted by Giulio Tremonti, the finance minister, contains $66.7bn of deficit cuts to balance the budget in 2014. It will trim the budgets of central government ministries and local authorities and reduce tax breaks for companies and families. However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... parliament must approve it within 60 days. The austerity sweep has heightened tensions within the centre-right coalition of Silvio Berlusconi, ...current Italian prime minister, known for his plain (for a European politician) speaking and his liking for hookers a third his age or less... the prime minister, and his restive Northern League ally has warned that the government is at risk until the package is passed. "The composition of the budget is very well balanced between lower spending and higher revenues," Tremonti, the Italian finance minister, said at a joint news conference with Berlusconi. "With today's measures we completed our path towards a balanced budget." He described this as a "political, civic and moral objective". |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Italy is notorious for tax evasion. We'll see how well this works. |
| Posted by: Highlander 2011-07-02 11:02 |