Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte survived a confidence vote in the country’s Senate but fell short of an outright majority, weakening his government as it searches for a way to tame the Covid-19 pandemic and revive the economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The vote in the Senate was triggered by the decision of a small centrist party led by a former prime minister, Matteo Renzi, to withdraw from the governing coalition. Mr. Renzi said he objected to Mr.
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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Peugeot-maker PSA Group cemented their trans-Atlantic merger Saturday, creating Stellantis NV, a global auto-making giant that executives say will have the heft needed to compete in a fast-changing industry, the Wall Street Journal reported. The deal, first agreed to in late 2019 and approved earlier this month by shareholders, comes as the global car business is rapidly shifting to new technologies, such as electric vehicles, and battling upstarts trying to upend everything from the way cars are engineered and built to how they are sold.
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A former leader of Italy yanked his party’s ministers on Wednesday from Premier Giuseppe Conte’s government, triggering a political crisis in the middle of a pandemic that could lead to a revamped Cabinet, a different coalition leader or the early election eagerly sought by right-wing opposition parties, the Associated Press reported. Matteo Renzi, who served as premier from Feb. 2014 to Dec.
Monte dei Paschi di Siena said that it would grant access to confidential data to potential merger partners selected by its advisers, as Italy presses ahead with plans to cut its stake in the state-owned bank, Reuters reported. Confirming comments to Reuters from sources earlier on Monday, Monte dei Paschi (MPS) said its board had hired Credit Suisse to help Mediobanca in the task of studying strategic options and sounding out market interest for the Tuscan bank.
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The government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is struggling to avoid collapse after a small coalition member threatened to withdraw vital parliamentary support, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Italia Viva party, led by former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, has long been skeptical of Mr. Conte’s leadership and is raising pressure on a range of issues, including how to reconstruct Italy’s battered economy after the pandemic. If Mr. Renzi pulls out of the coalition, forcing Mr.
Digital services taxes adopted by India, Italy and Turkey discriminate against U.S. companies and are inconsistent with international tax principles, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said on Wednesday, paving the way for potential retaliatory tariffs, Reuters reported.
Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and PSA said on Monday that investors had given their blessing to a $52 billion merger to create the world’s fourth largest automaker, and shares in the new company, named Stellantis, would start trading in two weeks, Reuters reported. With annual production of around 8 million vehicles worldwide and revenues of more than 165 billion euros ($203 billion), the newly-formed firm is expected to play a key role in the auto industry’s jump into the new era of electrification.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte warned that Italy is reaching the limits on how much debt the government can take on, even as the European Union opens the door to further borrowing, Bloomberg News reported. While Italy is pushing ahead with a 38 billion-euro ($47 billion) budget for next year, the growing deficit is becoming unsustainable, Conte said during his year-end press conference in Rome on Wednesday. The Senate gave the final approval to the spending package while he was speaking.
Italy’s Senate approved a 38 billion-euro ($47 billion) budget for next year, clearing the final hurdle for the government’s spending plans, Bloomberg News reported. The budget finances measures to help businesses hit by the impact of the coronavirus and lockdown measures, and introduces new measures to finance energy-efficient investments, including an extension of a tax break for green home renovations to 2022.
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Italy’s main banking and industry associations have urged European Union authorities to temporarily ease EU bank rules on loan defaults and credit provisioning to help businesses cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. In a letter to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and other senior officials, the groups called for less stringent definitions to be applied to credit defaults to stop temporary liquidity problems forcing firms into bankruptcy.