Italy

As a whirlpool, the crisis that has been lasting for the past 5 years has hit Italy hard in 2012.
The country was put under the "technical” government of Mario Monti, who acted as a commissioner and subjected Italy to a shock therapy of austerity policies, similar to the structural adjustment programs imposed by the IMF. While intended to reanimate the economy, it plunged the country into a real recession under the blackmail of two parameters: the "spread" between Italy and Germany, and the Public Debt, which has grown another 10%, reaching 127,3% of the GNP. It is not by chance that the Prime Minister Mario Monti has been International Advisor to Goldman Sachs.

The deterioration of the living conditions of a large part of the Italian population concerned especially the "working poor": in Italy, there are three million, about 15% of the total employed. Eight million Italians live with less than one thousand euro per month. The crisis has seriously damaged the middle class.

In terms of gender equity Italy lags behind the European average, and also behind some of its neighbours.

This is made apparent by the publication of the Gender Equity Index (GEI) 2012, published by Social Watch on the eve of Women’s International Day, March 8.

SOCIAL WATCH RAPPORTO 2009

"Il Ruolo dell’Italia nella governance mondiale: tra delusioni e speranze della società civile”
L’evento è realizzato dalla Coalizione Italiana Social Watch in occasione della presentazione del nuovo Rapporto Annuale Social Watch “People First”
Da Pittsburgh a Copenhagen: il bilancio dei risultati dei recenti vertici internazionali. Quale ruolo l’Italia può e deve giocare in vista dei prossimi appuntamenti internazionali del 2010? Non più promesse ma urgenti e concreti impegni è la richiesta unanime della società civile italiana. A discuterne esponenti governativi, parlamentari, rappresentati di organizzazioni internazionali e della società civile italiana.

Sbilanciamoci!, an Italian campaign working on issues related to the national budget, will held its annual forum in Venice. See the program.

Social Watch Italy organized several activities on occasion of the launching of the 2006 Report “Architettura Impossibile”. Areli Sandoval (Equipo Pueblo, SW Mexico), co-chair of the Coordinating Committee of Social Watch made a presentation on 2 May, at the Italian Parliament in Rome, with the presence of members of the European Parliament as well as Italian government representatives. On 3 May, a debate was organized at the Municipality of Florence, where the SW Report was launched with a strong message on the role of civil society in promoting social development and human rights.