No CV, in Italy job is got by playing futsal

Italian minister of Labour explained how it works in his country. Nothing new

Giuliano Poletti

by Emanuele Bonini

In order to get a job «is better to play five-a-side football than send a CV». For this sentence the Italian minister of Labour and Social Policies, Giuliano Poletti, was asked to step down amid harsh critics. No matter if it was a gaffe or a misunderstanding, the point is Poletti didn't nothing but say what Italy is about. There was no intention of offending anybody, since everybody's dignity has been already offended by the clientelism typical of Italy. The country is about that: personal connections. Poletti tried to express better the concept of the 5-a-side football, and the result was exactly that. «I did not belittle the value of the CV, but I stressed the importance of a relationship of trust that can develop outside the school context». This something completely true: connection is on the basis of meritocracy in Italy. Tell me who you know, and I'll tell what you'll become.

It is not the first time a minister of the Italian republic explains what is the country in reality. In 2001 the minister of Infrastructures of that time, Pietro Lunardi, said the country «has to live with mafia». Was the minister wrong? No, he wasn't. Unless the State wants to enter into a civil war, the only way to deal with organised-crime is the promotion of a cultural policy which of course takes time to give results. Meanwhile mafia is there and the everybody has to live with. So, there was nothing wrong in Lunardi's words. Exept for the fact he was a minister and given the role he had at that time he wasn't allowed to think and speak that way. Now it's Poletti's turn. He didn't do anything wrong. He just unveiled what Italy is about. Unfortunately he didn't mention he's supposed to be there to change the country.

Companies can proihibit the Islamic veil at work

At certain conditions the measure is not a discrimination, according to the ECJ

by Emanuele Bonini

The Islamic veil can be not allowed at work, according to the European Court of Justice in its verdict issued yesterday. The EU institution based in Luxembourg said companies can prohibit to wear political, philosophical and confessional dresses in name of the principle of neutrality, if explicit internal firm dispositions foresee it. The judgement was about two different cases involving the traditional female clothing typical of the Islamic culture, but in taking the decision a general principle was set by the European body.

On one hand the EU recognise freedom of religion, but on the other hand it is also recognised the right of neutrality for both public and private sector. In name of such principal, no political signs or cultural symbols can be exposed to public. The European Court of Justice thus admitted that a ban of Islamic veil doesn't constitute a form of preliminary discrimination. Of course, in order to don't generate discriminations such a ban can't be imposed only for a single person or a single category of groups, whatever they are (political, religious and so on). Furthermore, the ECJ clarified that in order to respect the right of neutrality, people are not allowed to show any peculiar signs in public, meaning that the Islamic veil can be kept for internal jobs and all those roles for which is not foreseen any relations with external people.

EU remedy to migration issue is children detention

The controversial proposal in the recommendation to the Member State, formally adopted today

"To migrate is a right. No jail for migrants"

by Emanuele Bonini

Children can be imprisoned as migrants, according to the latest proposal of the European Commission. The controversial rule is foreseen by the recommendation on making returns more effective when implementing the Directive on Returns. New dispositions have been adopted in principle last week, but formal adoption will take place when all language versions are available, which is expected to happen today, 8th of March. It means that from today the EU legislation can be applied in the tougher manner, and the Member States «should not preclude in their national legislation the possibility to place minors in detention, where this is strictly necessary to ensure the execution of a final return decision in sofar as Member States are not able to ensure less coercive measures than detention that  can be applied effectively in view of ensuring effective return».

In European Commission intentions, returns have to speeded up. In the meanwhile, irregular migrants have to be managed and kept on the EU territory until they are not sent back to their country of origin. It has written in the recommendation that «for the purpose of effectively ensuring removals of illegally staying third-country nationals, Member States should use detention as needed and appropriate, and in particular where there is a risk of absconding». A initial period of maximum six months of detention should be foreseen by national legislations, with the possibility of extent up to 18 months in case of need. In order to better deal with the phenomenon of irregular migrants - all those who are not entitled to apply for international protection - Member States are asked to put in place measures to effectively locate and apprehend third-country nationals staying illegally, wherever they are.

Time for low-cost medicines, said the EU Parliament

The Plenary passed a resolution calling for more affordable prices and full access to cure for all

by Emanuele Bonini

It is time to put and end to the high cost of medicines, said the European Parliament in a resolution approved in latest session of the Plenary by 568 votes to 30, with 52 abstentions. Pharmaceutical products have no-limits in price increase, making more and more difficult for people to get access to cures. The EU body thus decided to respond the needs of people by passing a text calling for measures to improve the traceability of R&D costs, public funding and marketing expenditure in name of transparency. Members of the Parliament adopted a non-legislative resolution, whose political message is however strong: medicines must be more affordable.

Barriers to medicines access. The resolution denounced how «in many cases the prices of new medicines have increased during the past few decades to the point of being unaffordable to many European citizens». All this happened despite ensuring patient access to essential medicines be one of the core objectives of the EU and the WHO. However the possibility of medicines depends on their timely availability and their affordability for everyone, without any geographical discrimination. Such conditions are not met, the MEPs complained. «Certain essential medicines are not available in many Member States, which can lead to problems with regard to patient care». This lack of basic pharmaceutical product is supposed to be due to «illegitimate business strategies, such as "pay for delay" in the pharmaceutical sector, or political, manufacturing or distribution issues, or parallel trade».

«Non-performing loans still a serious issue for Europe»

Valdis Dombrovskis pointed out the main challenges for the Eurozone viability. Italy the major concern, German banks with a past of risky attitude

by Emanuele Bonini

Banks in Europe «are stronger and better capitalised» than the previous years, according to the European commissioner for the Euro and the Financial stability, Valdis Dombrovskis. This means the worst is passed. Just theoretically. Risks are in fact not over at all, because of non performing loans. Non-performing loans are all those kind of credits of difficult repayment. It means that financial institutions give money to borrowers who are not in the position to give those money back, finishing to be exposed to the risk of shock due to insolvent debtors. It is not just a matter of isolated cases. On the contrary, that of non-performing loans «is a serious issue we are facing in several Member States», pointed out once again Dombrovskis. Once again because the problem is not a new one, and the story is not an unknown one.

Italy. A Member State with long-date problem is Italy. The country is «in a context of high non-performing loans», as the European Commission underlined in the latest winter economic package. The scale of risk exposure is source of concerns, since «the stock of non-performing loans has only started to stabilize and still weighs on banks’ profits and lending policies». In numbers, the sector’s gross stock of  non-performing loans stabilized only recently at around 329 billion Euro. In practice, Italy lives in «persistent uncertainty» related to the adequacy of loan loss provisions and capital buffers, given the existing high stock of non-performing loans and banks’ limited ability to absorb losses in a context of subdued profitability. Italy is the third economy of the Euro area, and spill-over effects need to be avoided, according to the European Commission, worried for the viability of the Member States. Italy was identified as having excessive macroeconomic imbalances relating to its high public debt and weak external competitiveness in a context of weak productivity growth and the high level of non-performing loans on banks' balance sheets.

CETA to harm the least developed countries

According to an analysis for the European Parliament the EU-Canada trade agreement will likely erode the economic power of poorest States, condemned to be much poorer. 

by Emanuele Bonini

It has been considered «a Trojan horse», an asymptomatic carrier of infectious diseases for the «made in», the workers' health and the national economies. Now CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada, can harshly hit the developing countries. In other words the new trade deal is against the poors, according to a report from the European Parliament. Written under the request of the Committee on Development, the report pointed out that «it is likely that the implementation of mega-regional agreements will result in some preference erosion for developing countries». There is no doubt that CETA is a mega-regional agreement, so it is expectable to see the European Union and Canada trading more between themselves and less with other partners. Less business in the developing countries means to put at stake their future, and for such a reason the report suggested that the EU development assistance «should be targeted at these vulnerable countries and producers». The same report considered to recommend «a more targeted and perhaps extended programme of support» for those third countries affected by CETA».

Despite the impossibility of calculating the real impact of the new trade agreement, the European Parliament recognised side effects. The report made a distinction between the so-called ACP countries (African, Caribbean and Pacific states) and the Least Developed Countries (LDC). According to the different scenarios, losses for the ACP countries are estimated from 21.78 billion Dollars up to 50.31 billion Dollars, while for the second group of States losses range from 11.39 billion Dollars up to 16.24 billion Dollars. To put under pressure the least rich part of the world is the end of trade barriers between the EU and Canada. «CETA will have a very aggressive tariff elimination regime», making goods and products from different markets less attractive because less profitable. So, in the case of CETA analyses suggest that «there may be some preference erosion effects for developing countries, particularly those with concentrated export structures vis-à-vis the EU and those competing directly with Canada in EU markets». It's not only about that. In fact it is not clear whether such trade diversion could be offset by trade creation arising from the growth-enhancing effects of the CETA, particularly vis-à-vis the EU.

New US-EU ties searched amid European skepticism

American vice president Mike Pence tried to reassure Europe on Trump's commitments, but the counterparts didn't show enthusiasm 

Mike Pence (left) and Donald Tusk

by Emanuele Bonini

The United States of America have no intention of reconsider the engagement towards Europe, the US vice president Mike Pence said on Monday during his official visits to the EU institutions chiefs. EU leaders have been considering the new American administration as a problem for the future of the trans-Atlantic ties, and Pence was in Brussels to reassure the historic partner about the intentions and political agenda of the White House. «On behalf of President Trump I reaffirm the strong commitment of the US to continued cooperation and partnership with EU». Pence's key message was sent in the occasion of the bilateral meeting with the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk. Of course on the other side of the ocean expectations are high. «We will continue to do our part but Europe's defence requires Europe's commitment as much as it does ours», said the former governor of Indiana, resuming an issue already pointed out by Barack Obama's administration. Politically speaking, Pence was sent to Brussels to build the first diplomatic ties with the Europeans after the US electoral campaign, during which Trump's statements on the European Union generated general discontent. Concerns were raised also on the foreign affairs agenda, with Trump ready to reconsider the American approach on Russia. According to Pence's assurances, nothing is supposed to radically change. «On Ukraine the United States will continue to pursue any Russian accountable».

European leaders welcomed Mike Pence's declarations with mild optimism and some skepticism. The president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, invited today to keep calm and wait the US administration when put to test. «Some positive messages come from Pence, but I believe that we have to wait some time and see what it will be done». In his opinion, it is essential to «wait in order to well understand what is the real position of the White House instead of focusing on the position of single advisors». Totally different is the opinion of Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, who put the new president of the United States amongst the problem of Europe. Speaking in the federal Parliament of Belgium, Juncker didn't hide what he defined «a multiple crisis», that includes «Brexit, Greece, Syria and Trump». Despite Pence's efforts, doubts and mistrust remain in Europe.

What «Orwellian» really means

Moldovan geopolitical game resumed

Pro-Russia head of State Igor Dodon in Brussels to confirm commitments taken with the EU, without forgetting traditional ties with Moscow

by Emanuele Bonini

An eye at east, another to the west. Igor Dodon's Moldova introduced itself to the European Union, in an attempt to secure the little that the former Soviet republic can obtain from the new ally. Or rather, the other partner, namely the Western one, opposed to the Eastern one. The new President of Moldova, Igor Dodon, is a pro-Russian even before being a pro-European. He thus could put in question the painstakingly relationships built between Chisinau and Brussels. Dodon has made his visit to the EU capital to meet the presidents of the three EU institutions (Jean-Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk, Antonio Tajani) and the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy (Federica Mogherini). At each of them he reiterated its willingness to comply with the commitments foreseen by the Association Agreements, what led the eastern country to have one foot into the single market. Officially the engagement to go on is there, as well as the usual problems for the country remain. The EU has always recognized Moldova in its entirety, ie with Transnistria, the region under Russian control. This causes Moldovan leadership embarrassment when it comes to deal with the old partner. Moldova is still anchored in Russia. Before being elected new president, Dodon publicly recognised the legitimacy of Russian actions in Crimea, defined by Dodon as «part of the Russian Federation».

On foreign policy issues, the new Moldovan president doesn't seem to be on the same wavelength of the EU. For the European Union the main challenge will be to preserve relations with a country to which Europe promised as many concessions as possible. The main spoken language of Moldova is Romanian, part of the population didn't made mystery of wishing to be part of Romania, and some Moldovans would like getting a deeper European integration. There is at least a moral obligation of the EU towards this country. But the feeling is that the EU be not any longer the goal to be reached as it was in the Republic of until last December, before the new president's appointment.

FACT SHEET/ Wahhabism training in Europe

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