ITALY |
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The Roman Empire is the name given to both the domain obtained by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. It succeeded the 500 year-old Roman Republic (510 BC – 1st century BC), which had been weakened by the conflict between Gaius Marius and Sulla and the civil war of Julius Caesar against Pompey. Several dates are commonly proposed to mark the transition from Republic to Empire, including the date of Julius Caesar's appointment as perpetual dictator (44 BC), the victory of Caesar's heir Octavian at the Battle of Actium (September 2, 31 BC), and the Roman Senate's granting to Octavian the honorific Augustus (January 16, 27 BC)
The Romans as an ancient people are the founders and inhabitants of the city of Rome. This people has an Indo-European origin and language. |
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ITALY and EUROPE |
March 25, there is the Rome Conference, organized by the Italian government, because of Celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, in the presence of Italian and European institutions' high representatives, with the participation and contribution of civil society members. |
EU60 |
Italy's attention for a new model Europe (Project Syndicate, 1 August 2013): Enrico Letta, present Prime Minister of Italy, outlined his vision for future EU reform: "
We need a Europe that is more concrete, less rhetorical, and better suited to the current global economy. We need to focus not only on the European Union’s specific policies, but also on how to change its “politics” – a change that must place economic growth at the top of the agenda." Read the full text here. |
Because of the health crisis, HoGS decided to create a Recovery and Resilience Facility for financial support to public investments and reforms existing of 312,5 billion in grants and 360 billion in loans. Italy has requested a total of €191.5 billion in support under the RRF comprising of €68.9 billion in grants and €122.6 billion in loans.
Italy has been reforming for decades to reduce public debt, but in spite of good intentions there has been little progress. Reforms however, should go together with completing unfinished business the eurozone.
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Reuters reported on an effort to increase competition, cut costs to consumers and boost chronically weak growth in the euro zone's third largest economy.
"We have adopted a package of structural reforms to help growth," Prime Minister Mario Monti, author of the report A New Strategy for the Single Market, said after an 8-hour cabinet meeting. "More competition means more chance for young people and less for rents and privilege." With Italy in the frontline of the euro zone debt crisis, Monti is keen to convince markets that a sluggish, hidebound economy can be reformed, even if some commentators question the growth-boosting potential of the raft of micro-measures.
He said the reforms, affecting sectors ranging from pharmacies to banks, notaries and taxi drivers, were sure to meet with opposition because "many people prefer the status quo rather than facing new challenges". |
Monti's efforts to open up the "closed shop" mentality that has grown up around the professions in Italy is being fiercely opposed by the insiders who benefit. Monti cited a study by the Bank of Italy estimating that increasing service competition could boost growth by 11 percent in the long run, with half of that coming during the first three years after reform. The government, which has been working on the deregulation measures for weeks, watered down some of its initial proposals, including easing firing rules, abolishing limits on discount sales by retailers and increasing the number of taxi licenses. |
Taxi drivers, traditionally a particularly militant group, have held weeks of wildcat strikes, including surrounding the prime minister's residence in Rome with their cars. They announced further action to protest against the government's decision to assign the issuance of new licences to a transport authority rather than to mayors, on whom the taxi drivers feel they have more influence.
Monti said Italy's economy, which has lagged the euro zone average for every year since comparative records began to be compiled by Eurostat in 1996, was hampered by insufficient competition, poor infrastructures and excessive bureaucracy. He said the first two problems were addressed by the package of measures adopted on Friday, while next week the governement would present another package aimed at cutting red tape. Already under pressure from vested interests affected by his reforms, Monti was also attacked on Monday by Berlusconi, whom he depends on for his parliamentary majority. Berlusconi told reporters that measures adopted so far by the new government had "produced no results" and that he was ready to return to power soon. Europe should see Europe as a stimulus for growth. Growth can only be built on sustainable public finances. |
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MUSIC, ART and PHILOSOPHY |
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The Basilica of Saint Clement is a Latin Catholic minor basilica dedicated to Pope Clement I located in Rome, Italy. Archaeologically speaking, the structure is a three-tiered complex of buildings: (1) the present basilica built just before the year 1100 during the height of the Middle Ages; (2) beneath the present basilica is a 4th-century basilica that had been converted out of the home of a Roman nobleman, part of which had in the 1st century briefly served as an early church, and the basement of which had in the 2nd century briefly served as a mithraeum; (3) the home of the Roman nobleman had been built on the foundations of republican era villa and warehouse that had been destroyed in the Great Fire of AD 64.
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RENAISSANCE PHILOSOPHY
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer during the Renaissance. He was for many years an official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He was a founder of modern political science, and more specifically political ethics. He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is renowned in the Italian language. He was Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. He wrote his masterpiece, The Prince, after the Medici had recovered power and he no longer held a position of responsibility in Florence. His views on the importance of a strong ruler who was not afraid to be harsh with his subjects and enemies were most likely influenced by the Italian city-states, which due to a lack of unification were very vulnerable to other unified nation-states, such as France. |