Is Italy better off today than any time in its modern history?
Despite being heavily in debt—140% of its annual income—having the lowest birthrate in history, awash in illegal aliens coupled with a super-aging population, massive unemployment among its youth, and still plagued by organized crime, most Italians are living better than ever. Health care and universities are almost free, military conscription is gone, travel and access to jobs in 27 European Union countries are unrestricted, and you can’t get a bad meal from the Alps to Sicily.
Of course, Italians still complain about bureaucratic red tape and political warfare (sound familiar?); but compared to what was, Italians can finally enjoy a respite from the past.
Italy is no longer a military power, a past that died on the battlefields of World War II. But for three decades from the 1980s into the 2000s, Italian leaders sought global influence through peace-keeping operations and participation in NATO wars (Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan). They once sought to be made a permanent member of the UN Security Council (to join U.S., Russia, China, Britain, and France). A quixotic effort that was superseded by the formation of the European Union (EU) in 1993 and the Euro-Zone in 2002 in which Italy was a founding member and now a powerful voice.
The EU and Zone keep Italy’s national bookkeeping honest and inflation under control – something that challenged previous Italian governments. Happily, even though Italy is considered a rich nation, it claws back a nice chunk of subsidies from the EU for infrastructure, illegal aliens, and alleviating poverty in the Mezzogiorno. These givebacks mean that Italy’s net annual contribution to the EU is only €3 billion compared to Germany’s contribution of €25 billion, France’s €12 billion, and the tiny Netherlands’s €7 billion.
Under Fascism Italy’s grandiose military ambitions required 6% of the Italian budget. Today, Italy only spends 1.4% ̶ less than the NATO required 2% and a fraction of Poland’s 3.9% or the U.S.’s 3.5%.
With these limitations Italy must resign itself to a second-class global status. Its national airline Alitalia has become ITA with multi-national ownership. Almost 250,000 of its young population (aged 25-32) has migrated to foreign shores in search of jobs. Those that stayed have an unemployment rate of 21%. Such a rate means most Italian youth still live with their parents, many to age 30 and beyond. To be fair, young adults around the world are in the same situation, as housing costs rise.
And it seems that the age-old problem of organized crime still haunts Italy. Native clans like the Mafia, Ndrangheta, and Camorra have been joined by Albanian and Chinese syndicates, among others. Just when you thought the show trials and finally-caught bosses have made Italy mob-free, another headline or scandal pops up. There is always fodder for Italian filmmakers to perpetuate Italy’s dark side – an industry unto itself.
More than ever, today’s Italy depends on its past glories to survive. The Caesars made ancient Italy the center of the world. The wealth and genius that came to Italy during those centuries created a universal Church, gave birth to powerful city-states, and laid the foundation for the Renaissance. Some 14% of Italy’s income is from tourists who seek to enjoy that legacy, employing almost 1.5 million Italians.
On the modern side, think of luxury and Italy comes to mind. Just forty famous Italian companies, names like Ferrari (cars), Gucci (fashion), ENI (energy), Barilla (pasta), Antinori (wine) Kinder (KIN-der: aka Ferrero, 2nd largest chocolate brand in the world), bring in $110 billion to the Italian economy. Italian technology includes robotics, medicine, shipbuilding, and aerospace. Despite other problems, Italians have a lot to be proud of.
For many, Italy’s place in the world centers on food. Both Stanley Tucci and Phil Rosenthal (co-producer of Everyone Loves Raymond) did PBS series on the subject. They highlighted poetic Italian butchers and singing chefs to convey an image of a nation fanatically obsessed with eating.
Italians eat three times a day like the rest of us. What they do with their other waking hours has certainly been more important. -JLM
Some narratives like organized crime and financial problems are overblown by English and International media. Have you ever read a story about Italy having one of the lowest murder rate in the world? Have you ever read a story about Italy’s national debt being owed by mostly Italians?
As far as young people staying home, that is also a bogus narrative, a feel-good narrative for Northern Europeans and Americans. In Italy, thousands of young people move every year to a different city to attend college or to find a job. I know 60 Minutes runs stories about Italian “Mammoni” (Mamma’s boys) every few years. It is just the anti-Italian bias you find everywhere (as Bill writes).