Can the “iron professor” save Europe? – The foreign press continued to look with interest this week at developments in the Italian economy. Mario Monti was once again the focus of interviews, profiles and editorials that appeared in newspapers around the world. The Italian prime minister’s visit to the White House was featured as a cover story by Time magazine, which posed the question of whether the former economics professor could be the man to “save Europe” (February 10 – Why Mario Monti Is the Most Important Man in Europe*).
Whilst other US papers carried news of Monti’s meeting with Barack Obama (The Washington Post on February 9 – Mario Monti, Italy’s prime minister, aims to set a new growth agenda for Europe), an editorial in The Times by former editor of The Economist Bill Emmott chose to comment instead on his style of government, dubbing him the “iron professor” and thereby drawing a parallel between the reforms being passed in Italy and the structural changes wrought in the United Kingdom by Margaret Thatcher (February 6 – The Iron Professor has 1 year to save Italy*). The Italian prime minister was also the subject of an interview published in the American financial daily The Wall Street Journal (on February 7 – Q&A with Mario Monti*), whilst both the German paper Die Welt (on February 7 – Montis Meritokratie) and the UAE’s Gulf News (of February 5 – Only Monti’s ‘depoliticised democracy’ can save Italy*) examined the structural reforms being introduced in the country.
Rounding off this coverage of what an editorial in France’s Les Echos called “the hour of the Italians” (February 9 – Le temps des Italiens) was also a profile piece in the Financial Times on Mario Draghi, described as having shown himself to be a “swift, pragmatic decision-maker“ in his first 100 days as head of the ECB (February 7 – An Italian Job, Draghi’s first 100 days at the ECB*), a view endorsed by Le Monde, which spoke of a ”job well-done“ (February 8 – Les cent jours de Mario Draghi, opération réussie).
The king of cashmere and Pirelli’s international growth – In addition to the two “super Marios”, another leading light in the Italian business world made international headlines this week. A number of overseas papers reported the announcement by Brunello Cucinelli – hailed as the “king of cashmere” – of plans to list his eponymous label on the Milan stock exchange (Les Echos on February 6 – Brunello Cucinelli, le roi du cachemire italien, vise la Bourse*; and Le Monde on February 7 – Cucinelli souhaite entrer à la Bourse de Milan*). Focusing more on Italian industry was a page-long item in the Argentine daily La Nación, which looked at Pirelli’s Latin American prospects. As explained in an interview given by Mauro Pessi, CEO of Pirelli Latinamérica, and Daniel Disalvo, CEO of Pirelli Argentina, the group is set to open a new plant in the region by 2014 (February 4 – Pirelli, estrategias e inversiones en la región). The Washington Post, in turn, carried news of the imminent launch of the NTV high-speed train service in Italy (February 7 – Italy’s new high-speed train service due to begin next month).
Italian winter holiday recommendations – Finally, whilst much press coverage of Italy over the past week was given over to reports of the troubles currently afflicting the country, several papers ran travel pieces with suggestions for winter holiday spots in Italy: alongside the by-now customary recommendation of Carnival in Venice, featured in Portugal’s Diário de Noticias (on February 6 – Veneza vive os dez dias do Carnaval*), other articles offered readers some ideas for less-visited destinations, such as a week’s skiing in Alta Badia (in Die Welt on February 7 – Spitzenköche, Schlemmerhütten und schwarze Pisten), and a journey of discovery through Cremona, the birthplace of the violin and home to a notable cheese-making tradition (in the English-language Indian daily The Hindu on February 4 – Cremona, anyone?).
* marked articles viewable online upon payment or registration