While Europe is busy dealing with Greece, there is another emergency that’s remained quietly unresolved over the past several decades. Mario Draghi called it (pdf, p.6, in Italian) “the largest and most populous backward territory of the Euro zone.” It’s southern Italy, calledMezzogiorno, where over 21 millions Italians live—over a third of the population—and are responsible for producing under a fourth of the country’s GDP. This area has historically been problematic in terms of its economy while the productive heart of the country lies in the north.
More than 25% of southern families report being in serious financial deprivation and more than half of the 6 millions Italians (link in Italian) who live in poverty are in the southern region. The south has been affected by the recession even worse than the rest of the country. This is all aggravated by the presence of several organized criminal groups: the Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, and Camorra whose strongholds in the south thrive on conditions of limited economic alternatives for the population.
The per capita GDP in the southern region is 45.8% lower (link in Italian) than the north:
Employment, too, is unequal—especially amongst women who, percentage-wise, are employed in the north nearly twice as much as in the south.
A similar situation is true of youth unemployment—while significantly high in Italy overall (44.9%), reaches 63.3% amongst women in the south.
Even as the economy in Italy is slowly recovering—2015 is expected to see GDP growth of an estimated 0.8% (link in Italian)—the situation of the Mezzogiorno remains dramatic. Prime minister Matteo Renzi has been accused of neglecting the weaker parts of Italy’s economy from the beginning of his mandate. There’s also a serious lack of representation of southern regions in his government, whose ministers mostly hail from northern and central Italy.
Giuseppe Mazzini, one of the leaders of the movement for the unification of Italy said in the mid-19th century: “Italy will be what its south will be,” as he believed that the issues of the Mezzogiorno would determine the future of the country. It appears that he was right.
(source: http://qz.com)
The battle for Rome: Execution of gangster in busy square sparks fears Italian capital is gripped by Mafia turf war
- Modesto Pellino, 46, was shot seven times in front of dozens of people
- Killing follows more than two dozen gangland executions on Rome's streets in last 12 months
- Rome's mayor: City seeing 'assault by organised crime' on scale not seen since 1970s
Gunned down: Modesto Pellino was shot seven times in front of dozens of people in the busy central square in Nettuno, near Rome
Fears are growing that Rome may be at the centre of a Mafia turf war after a gangster was gunned down in a busy square.
Modesto Pellino, 46, was on the phone when he was shot seven times in front of dozens of people in the central square of Nettuno, near the Italian capital.
More than two dozen similar execution-style killings have been carried out on Rome's streets in the last year, as organised criminals from the capital and elsewhere battle over territory and interests in drugs and extortion.
Pellino had previous convictions and known links with the Moccia clan of Naples's Camorra, one of Italy's oldest and largest criminal organisations which dates back to the 18th century.
Zaratti Filiberto, chairman of the Lazio region's security and crime prevention commission, said police chiefs had warned that rival gangs from different Mafia groups were operating in and around the capital.
'This is the umpteenth episode of tit-for-tat in an area where the clans have been jockeying for dominance for some time,' he told La Repubblica newspaper.
'After some months of silence the gunfire has returned... The brutality of the murder, carried out in broad daylight in one of the city's main squares shows how worryingly powerful organised crime has become in this area.'
Turf war: The shooting follows more than two dozen similar execution-style killings on Rome's streets in the last year
Experts believe the rise in violence may be linked to the resurgence of Rome's Magliana gang...
(daily mail)
