Italy

Greece has one apparently simple option for reining in a budget deficit that has roiled financial markets: Clamp down on widespread tax evasion, which costs the country an estimated €15 billion ($20.5 billion) a year, an amount that would pay off a big chunk of the budget deficit. The trouble is, tax evasion in this Mediterranean country is extremely difficult to eradicate, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Jean-Claude Trichet, the European Central Bank president, is returning early from a conference in Australia to take part in a summit meeting of European leaders this week, amid speculation over possible action to ease the debt crisis several countries are facing, The New York Times reported. Mr. Trichet will attend the meeting Thursday of the European Council called by Herman Van Rompuy, the bloc’s first full-time president, an E.C.B. spokesman said Tuesday. He said Mr. Trichet was only invited to the meeting on Monday. The E.C.B.

Under the Italian government's tax amnesty plan, assets worth €95 billion (about $137 billion) have been declared, of which 98% will be repatriated in Italy, the Italian Economy Ministry said Tuesday, citing data as of Dec. 15. In an emailed statement, the ministry also said that the extension of the tax amnesty to April 2010 would be the "last one and definitive." In December, Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti announced the extension of the plan but with higher fees. Italians who repatriate assets by Feb.

Italy’s amnesty for tax evaders holding funds outside the country has been successful in attracting more than €80 billion so far, Giulio Tremonti, the finance minister, declared on Wednesday in setting out a record haul for the centre-right government, the Financial Times reported. The figure, equal to about 5 per cent of gross domestic product, sets a record for an overseas tax amnesty for Italians. It also confirms Italy as the European league leader in successful tax amnesties, thanks to the generous terms and anonymity offered.

Italy's tax police said Tuesday it raided 76 branches and offices of Swiss banks based in Italy and close to the border of San Marino, Dow Jones reported. In a joint e-mailed statement, the Italian tax police and Italy's tax agency said that the inspections were carried out in order to see if banks and their agents had provided prompt communications on their clients' accounts. The Italian tax police said that hundreds of police and tax officers made inspections Tuesday.

The Italian fashion house Ferré put on a fashion show Friday as its owner, IT Holding SpA, is seeking buyers to take it out of bankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal’s Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. IT Holding filed for bankruptcy protection in Italy in February after failing to service more than $400 million in debt and make royalty payments to its designers, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Government administrators have since taken the company’s reins. Despite the struggles of its parent, Ferré has pledged to reinvent itself.

Fiat SpA plans to build Chrysler Group LLC vehicles in Italy at the plants it will acquire through its purchase of niche manufacturer Carrozzeria Bertone, according to the Italian government, The Wall Street Journal reported. Fiat, which acquired a 20% stake in Chrysler in June, beat out two other bidders for Bertone's assets, the government said. Bertone helped build such models as the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint and the Lamborghini Countach before it ran into financial difficulties.

Differences about bank stress tests and the timing of exit strategies from government measures to deal with the recession overshadowed the start of a G8 finance ministers meeting in southern Italy on Friday night, the Financial Times reported. Germany’s Peer Steinbrück said it would be difficult to find support for a discussion on exit strategies, although Jim Flaherty, Canada’s finance minister, had said the time had come to begin to talk about how to wind down economic stimulus measures. Fragility of the eurozone’s recovery was underlined on Friday.

Fiat SpA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne has agreed to hold talks with Italian government officials and unions in an effort to avoid labor opposition that could derail his plans to make Fiat one of the world's largest car makers, The Wall Street Journal reported. Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajola on Friday released excerpts of a letter Mr. Marchionne recently sent the minister, pledging to meet with the Italian government and unions as soon as Fiat knows the outcome of its proposed merger with Opel, the German unit of General Motors Corp.

Italian automaker Fiat SpA's next project is a deal with Germany's Opel after a landmark alliance with U.S. car maker Chrysler, Fiat's chief executive said in an interview published on Friday. Sergio Marchionne told La Stampa newspaper that Fiat also remained committed to Italy but needed to work with the government and unions on "structural problems". Fiat sealed an industry-changing deal with Chrysler, the smallest of Detroit's Big Three automakers, on Thursday. Fiat will take an initial 20 percent stake in Chrysler, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.