Tag: Silvio Berlusconi

• Saturday, November 12th 2011 - 11:17 UTC

  Putin running for president praises Berlusconi 17-year tenure as a “stability factor”

  

  Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised outgoing fellow political veteran Silvio Berlusconi and defended his own decision to remain in power for years to come in front of an audience of foreign experts.

• Thursday, November 10th 2011 - 05:59 UTC

  Italy at the point where Greece, Ireland and Portugal cracked; global markets on the edge

  

  Stock markets in Asia opened sharply lower on Thursday after Italy's record-high cost of borrowing renewed fears over the Euro-zone crisis. Japan's Nikkei index fell 2.3%, Australia's ASX was down 2.8% while South Korea's Kospi opened 2.6% lower.

• Wednesday, November 9th 2011 - 06:16 UTC

  Berlusconi stepping down; technocrat or national unity government to follow

  

  Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday he would resign after suffering a humiliating setback in parliament that showed a party revolt had stripped him of a majority.

• Saturday, November 5th 2011 - 07:58 UTC

  Italy agrees to EC and IMF monitoring of budget reforms in support of the Euro

  

  Italy has agreed to allow the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to monitor its implementation of budgetary reforms that would cut state spending and raise revenue in a bid to prevent the sovereign debt crisis from spreading to the Euro zone’s third largest economy.

• Wednesday, October 26th 2011 - 02:45 UTC

  Euro zone bailout summit outcome in doubt; Italian government on the brink

  

  Italy's cabinet failed on Tuesday to agree on pension reforms as the country seeks to re-launch its economy and tackle its debt. Meanwhile, financial markets nervously await the outcome of Wednesday's second Euro zone summit.

• Thursday, October 20th 2011 - 21:09 UTC

  European leaders call on Libyans to build a strong and democratic future

  

  French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday that the death of Muammar Gaddafi turned a page for the Libyan people and signalled the start of a democratic process.

• Saturday, October 8th 2011 - 08:20 UTC

  Chronicle of a foretold cut: Fitch downgrades Italy and Spain’s credit rating

  

  Fitch cut on Friday Italy's sovereign credit rating by one notch and Spain's by two, citing a worsening of the Euro zone debt crisis and a risk of fiscal slippage in both countries. Fitch cut Italy's rating to A+ from AA- and lowered Spain to AA- from AA+.

• Wednesday, September 21st 2011 - 05:54 UTC

  “Negative political considerations” downgraded Italy’s rating says Berlusconi

  

  Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was quick to reject a long-feared assessment from ratings agency Standard & Poor’s that saw Italy’s credit rating downgraded by one notch on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, September 20th 2011 - 09:09 UTC

  S&P downgrades Italy’s rating by one notch with negative outlook

  

  Standard and Poor's downgraded its unsolicited ratings on Italy by one notch to A/A-1 and kept its outlook on negative, a major surprise that threatens to add to concerns of contagion in the debt-stressed Euro zone.

• Monday, September 5th 2011 - 05:53 UTC

  Doubts Italy’s divided government can pass measures to cut budget and debt

  

  ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet kept up warnings over Italy's strained public finances telling the struggling centre-right government it must act quickly to reassure nervous markets.