Italy

Trade unions asked the Italian government this week to promote a production alliance between Italy's two largest steel producers, ILVA and Lucchini, to help the troubled firms stave off further declines, Reuters reported. The Italian steel sector, the second largest in Europe after Germany, has been hard hit by a drop in demand that has been exacerbated by tough austerity policies. Its output contracted by more than 11 percent in May from a year before. "Only by pushing forward production integration among the largest Italian steel players can we think of getting out of this tough situation.

The board of Seat Pagine Gialle approved on Thursday a debt restructuring proposal and new strategic guidelines to relaunch the Italian yellow pages publisher, Reuters reported. In February, the heavily indebted company said it would ask creditors for a debt restructuring after conceding its interest burden and the recession had made its targets to 2015 unachievable. In a statement, Seat said the debt proposal, which will be presented for review to a court in Turin, envisages that a portion of its debt will be converted into equity and part of it reimbursed with cash.

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta unveiled a package of measures aimed at bringing down Italy's spiraling youth unemployment—among the highest in Europe—fulfilling one of the signature promises of his shaky government, The Wall Street Journal reported. With the measures introduced on Wednesday, Mr. Letta hopes to persuade the European Union at a summit this week to grant Italy new tools that could help it boost growth and employment. The stakes are high, with pressure building on Mr.

The Italian government has approved a new package of urgent measures aimed at restarting the country's economy, including a €3 billion ($4 billion) investment in infrastructure works and increased funding for small and midsize companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government decree, unveiled late Saturday after a six-hour cabinet meeting, is part of Prime Minister Enrico Letta's challenge to revive Italy's flagging economy which is now in its eighth consecutive quarter of contraction and facing record youth unemployment rates. Mr.

Ten years after its spectacular collapse in an accounting scandal, reborn Italian dairy firm Parmalat is still struggling to free itself from legal disputes that are clouding both its prospects and those of its new French owner, Reuters reported. In March, a local court put Parmalat under the oversight of a special commissioner as part of an investigation into its purchase of a business from its majority owner Lactalis - a deal which helped Lactalis to cut its debt, but which some minority investors say was overpriced and makes little strategic sense.

Money-losing Alitalia said on Thursday it had signed a deal with unions to cut salaries, paving the way for launching a new strategic plan for Italy's flagship airline, Reuters reported.CEO Gabriele Del Torchio and board members have agreed to cut their pay by 20 percent, while 2,200 ground staff will work 5 fewer days per month under a state-backed scheme. The next step is launching a new strategic plan for Alitalia, he said. Alitalia, 25 percent-owned by Air France-KLM, said the deal will help it achieve its cost saving targets in the short-to-medium term.

An Italian businessman who founded several technology firms and has been embroiled in a complex tax evasion trial won control Tuesday of the struggling La Perla luxury lingerie and beachwear brand, beating out Italian hosiery and bathing suit maker Calzedonia. Silvio Scaglia, who founded both the Omnitel phone company and then Fastweb broadband provider before selling them off at a healthy profit, has more recently turned his attentions to the fashion business. He recently bought the Elite modeling agency, which he said led him to consider La Perla.

Italy is considering allowing older workers to reduce their work hours while mentoring younger employees as a way to bring down youth unemployment, which is a growing scourge across Europe, The Wall Street Journal reported. Labor Minister Enrico Giovannini said that he planned this week to discuss the idea of "generational handoff" contracts with union leaders, who so far have been strongly supportive.

Italy's new government took its first concrete steps Friday, announcing some €3 billion ($3.86 billion) in economic measures aimed at offering relief to households and workers amid the country's longest postwar recession, The Wall Street Journal reported. Prime Minister Enrico Letta, who was sworn in last month as head of a coalition cabinet, said an unpopular tax on primary residences would be suspended and an extra €1 billion would be pumped into a wage-supplement program. The measures were the bare minimum of what the new government has pledged.

A deepening recession and banking stress tests could find Italy's mid-sized lenders short of billions of euros, putting the state on the hook for a new wave of cash calls and triggering an overhaul of how they do business, Reuters reported in an insight. Even ahead of the European stress tests, expected to take place when or shortly before the European Central Bank (ECB) takes over direct supervision of euro zone banks next year, Italy's smaller banks are under pressure to boost their balance sheets after a Bank of Italy audit of problematic loans and to meet stricter Basel 3 capital rules.