NY Times: "La Sicilia non ama più Berlusconi"

[robert jordan]

Come la Sicilia fu il simbolo della vittoria di Silvio Berlusconi cinque anni fa, così oggi "l'attuale mancanza di interesse" nei confronti del premier "riecheggia in giro per l'Italia mentre si avvicinano le elezioni del 9 e 10 aprile". E' quanto scrive in un reportage da Palermo il "New York Times", secondo cui Berlusconi potrebbe perdere il voto "soprattutto perché gli italiani ritengono che l'economia vada male".



per la serie "all' estero tutti ne parlano bene".



per i bananas: NY vuol dire New York.



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/03/wo...=1&oref=slogin






"His was a presentation that played to our trust," said Paolo Piraino, 69, who runs a leather shop here in the conservative capital and who voted for Mr. Berlusconi's party in 2001. He is not sure he will do so again.
"Now he just talks too much," he said. "We are a bit disoriented, especially in the business and economic sector."



"parla troppo. siamo disorientati"

Serving up a goulash of facts and figures, Mr. Berlusconi stuck to his upbeat analysis in the first of two recent debates with his center-left opponent, Romano Prodi. One result was that even many supporters worried about the gap between the words of Mr. Berlusconi and what most — far less rich — Italians believe.



Con una zuppa di fatti e cifre SB si e' attenuto alla sua analisi ottimistica. il risultato e' stato che persino molti supporters si sono preoccupati per la distazna tra le parole di SB e quello che la maggior parte degli italiani crede.




Lorenzo Codogno, head economist for Europe at Bank of America in London, is equally blunt. "It's definitely not doing O.K.," he said. "You can argue them, but the numbers are there to show that the economy hasn't performed."

puoi discuterli, ma i numeri dicono che l'economia non e' andata bene.

[robert jordan]

.

[Bigas]

Anche l'Economist si concentra sulla Sicilia

Italy
Sicilian vespers

Mar 23rd 2006 | PALERMO
From The Economist print edition
The election could be decided on the Mediterranean's biggest island

MANY Italians, particularly older ones, will vote in the election next month with a gloomy feeling that today's politicians do not match their forebears. Bernardo Provenzano, aged 73, of Corleone in Sicily, is no exception. But, as head of the Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, his reasoning is slightly different. Nino Giuffre, a mafioso-turned-informer who has testified to meeting the fugitive Mr Provenzano frequently, told a court last year that the boss of bosses often laments the “unreliability and inexperience of today's politicians, who are unable to take care of matters behind the scenes and favour our people.”

One of the few for whom he has much time has been Sicily's governor, Salvatore Cuffaro, who is standing for parliament. Mr Guiffre said that he was regarded by Mr Provenzano with approval, as an “old-style politician”. Although he is on trial for aiding and abetting the Mafia, Mr Cuffaro is the leading candidate in Sicily for the Union of Christian Democrats (UDC), the third-biggest party in Silvio Berlusconi's ruling coalition, and the one that has gained most ground in the five years since the centre-right came to power.

The legal case against Mr Cuffaro is shaky. He is accused of warning a Cosa Nostra boss that his conversations were being recorded by police. But prosecutors have produced evidence only to show that he told a friend and political associate, who in turn told the mobster. That said, the UDC in Sicily is enshrouded by what Italians term the “stench of Mafia”. At least nine of its elected officials, including a junior minister in the government in Rome, are under investigation, on trial or appealing against their convictions in cases of alleged collaboration with Cosa Nostra.

As head of a regional government with much autonomy, Mr Cuffaro enjoys immense patronage. Such is his lust for control that he has even hijacked the appointment of local-government ombudsmen. Special commissioners have been assigned to 73 local authorities to decide who should scrutinise their performance. In Palermo, Lino Buscemi, the first choice of the left (and of many on the right), was brushed aside in favour of a UDC trusty. The special commissioner argued that, being a lawyer, the man would have more time to devote to his new duties.

The UDC's ability to drum up cash and hand out jobs was a big reason why Sicily swung so decisively behind Mr Berlusconi at the 2001 election. All 61 single-member constituencies in Sicily went to the centre-right. But that will not happen again. Ironically, this is because, at the insistence of the right (and particularly of the national UDC), all seats in parliament will be allocated by proportional representation. The new voting system could give rise to unpredictable results—even to the two chambers falling into different hands—but it will certainly stop a repetition of last time's Sicilian-style clean sweep.

Sicily matters, which is one reason why the Mafia's impact on Italian politics has been so great. Roughly one in every ten Italians is Sicilian, and the island will choose 60 of the 630 seats in the lower house next month. Few believe the right will be bested this time; but the left could easily snatch 20-25. That might be enough to decide the national outcome.
http://www.economist.com/World/europ...ory_id=5662735

E' a pagamento il contenuto quindi non so se vi si apre.

Cristiano

[robert jordan]

Anche l'Economist si concentra sulla Sicilia

Italy
Sicilian vespers

Mar 23rd 2006 | PALERMO
From The Economist print edition
[...]

Few believe the right will be bested this time; but the left could easily snatch 20-25. That might be enough to decide the national outcome.
http://www.economist.com/World/europ...ory_id=5662735

E' a pagamento il contenuto quindi non so se vi si apre.

Cristiano

non l' ho ancora tolto dal cellophane....