Meanwhile, the first week of school last week meant tons of education reform excitement in Italy (as well as less posted from your chronicler). Yes — a subject that usually makes most Americans huddle and cry while as vaguely-defined horrors like state-mandated testing and No Child Left Behind is actually exciting in Italy. This year, …
Category Archives: eu
Svezia, inferno e paradiso
One expects political upheaval in Italy. After all, the country has had as many governments as Boliva since World War Two, and my primer on Italian politics had a photo of parliamentarians fist-fighting on the cover. But — Sweden? As Stephen Castle wrote in yesterday’s New York Times, Swedish politics are usually “worthy, high-minded and …
More on the Roma Debate
Berlusconi comes out with Sarkozy against criticism on France’s treatment of Roma. Quoted in Le Figaro yesterday, “[EU Citizen’s Rights Commissioner] Reding would have done better to treat the subject in private with French leaders before speaking publicly as she did.” Some of the right-leaning Italian press is calling it a new French-Italian “axis” against …
Donadio on Prato today
I don’t want this to become a blog just filled with links to outside sources. BUT, with that caveat in mind, check out Rachel Donadio’s excellent piece on the Chinese influence in Prato in today’s NYT. Analysis and thoughts to follow.
La Chinatown milanese
The blog has been on hold recently due to my moving to the area around via Paolo Sarpi – Milan’s “Chinatown.” This is a fascinating neighborhood that has exploded in the past decade or so with Chinese wholesalers. It is an ideal place to see how immigration, trade and globalization effect modern Europe. The small …
More on the EU and the Roma
In response to reader Scott, who raises some good points on my last post: Romania is near to being the most impoverished country in Europe, and if there are no jobs in Romania workers will go where the jobs are. I would label them economic refugees (forced migration through economic necessity). First off, I’d draw …