Abstract
This chapter aims at providing a theoretically informed appraisal of the politics of the Eurozone crisis reforms in Italy, with special attention to the preferences of the main political actors vis-à-vis the constraints they faced. Italy is an interesting case study not only because it is the largest ‘southern’ economy and one of the six founding members of the European Communities, but also because in the context of the crisis, and unlike other southern member states, it managed to avoid a formal bailout procedure. Novel data collected in the framework of the EMU Choices Horizon 2020 project as well as the analysis of official documents lend support to the thesis that rather than following a vincolo esterno logic, Italy’s stances were essentially dictated by the short-term imperative to reassure financial markets and avoid a direct intervention of the Troika.
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Notes
- 1.
The so-called Six Pack includes: (1) Regulation 1175/2011, (2) Regulation 1177/2011, (3) Regulation 1173/2011, (4) Directive 2011/85/EU, (5) Regulation 1176/2011, and (6) Regulation 1174/2011. The Two Pack includes: (1) Regulation 473/2013; (2) Regulation 472/2013.
- 2.
Decree-law 98/2011 on ‘Urgent provisions for financial stabilization’ converted into law by the Italian Parliament on July 15, 2011 (Gazzetta Ufficiale 2011).
- 3.
As noted by Brunclík (2015: 59), the Monti cabinet almost perfectly embodied the ideal type of technocratic cabinet entirely made up of technocrats.
- 4.
Significantly, one of the first measures taken by the Monti cabinet was the so-called Save Italy Decree, a structural adjustment package worth 30 billion Euros over three years (The Economist 2011).
- 5.
It should be recalled that as of August 2011 the ECB extended its Securities Markets Programme—that is, purchases of sovereign bonds on the secondary market—to Italian and Spanish government bonds (Casiraghi et al. 2013).
- 6.
Although Spain avoided a full-fledged bailout in the style of the Portuguese and the Greek one, the country was still placed under the supervision of the Troika for the implementation of the financial assistance programme aimed at a restructuring of the banking sector.
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Sottilotta, C.E. (2020). Vincolo esterno or Muddling Through? Italy. In: Morlino, L., Sottilotta, C. (eds) The Politics of the Eurozone Crisis in Southern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24471-2_5
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