Italy’s request to the EU – A request to reappraise Italy’s contributions to Europe and convince the EU to give more credence to growth. According to the foreign press, that was the outcome of the meeting between Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as reported in various international papers on February 1 (EFE – Monti pide a Merkel que la UE fomente el crecimiento; El Mundo – Monti exige una revisión de las contribuciones netas europeas; Die Welt – Monti dringt bei Merkel auf Entlastung Italiens; Die Zeit – Monti will Italien als EU-Beitragszahler entlasten). But there was also concern over Italy’s prospects after the February 24 elections: the Financial Times underlined the importance of growth as one of the incoming government’s challenges ( January 30 – Italy’s next PM must generate growth ) and the Wall Street Journal interviewed Minister of Economic Development Corrado Passera about his political future (January 28 – Italian Minister Hints at Center-Right Leadership Role*).
Fiat’s annual report – While the business sections continued to report on the Monte dei Paschi scandal (January 28 and 29: Bloomberg Businessweek Italian bank official: Nationalization is possible; Financial Times – Minister defends Italy bank supervision ; La Tribune – La banque centrale d’italie donne son feu vert au sauvetage de Monte dei Paschi), there was also a great deal of interest in Fiat. The foreign press turned its attention to the group’s annual report, where Chrylser’s profits balanced the difficulties in the European market, and spoke about the possibilities for the group’s industrial sector in the U.S. (January 30 and February 1: La Tribune – Le constructeur italien Fiat sauvé par sa branche américaine Chrysler; The China Post – Chrysler profits rev up Italian auto giant Fiat, full ownership approaches; Washington Post – Fiat industrial Q4 profits up 20 percent, sees growth from merger of US unit CNH; Valor Economico – Fiat vende mais na AL, mas câmbio limita ganho).
New luxury markets – Finally, there were articles about the luxury sector. The Financial Times reported Furla’s plans to expand in China (February 1 – Italy’s Furla to open 100 stores in China ). Other papers ran articles on the promises of Italian luxury brands to financial restoration of monuments (Bloomberg Businessweek , January 31 –Italy’s Luxury Companies Step Up to Restore Monuments), starting with Fendi’s decision to sponsor restoration of the Trevi Fountain (January 28-30: Washington Post – Fendi sponsors $2.9 million restoration of Rome’s Trevi Fountain, site of “Dolce Vita” fame; El Pais – La vieja Fontana de Trevi pasa por la modista;The China Post – Fendi to fund Trevi Fountain repairs in Rome).
* marked articles viewable online upon payment or registration