Main focus of Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Naples' trash problem symbolizes Italy's crisis

The southern Italian city of Naples is mired in trash which hasn't been removed for weeks. Now, Prime Minister Romano Prodi wants to bring in the army to solve the problem.

Diena - Latvia

Aivars Ozolin sees Italy's trash crisis as a symbol of the state's weakness. "Italy is not any old EU country. It is among the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community, the basis of the European Community. Back in 1987 Italy's economic output was comparable to that of Great Britain. Now, even Spain – which only joined the EU in 1986 - is surpassing Italy. ... It is generally believed that the current crisis is caused by the Mafia, which wants to blackmail the authorities into paying more for garbage disposal. But the crisis also reveals the weakness of the central government and of the political system in Italy." (09/01/2008)

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Helsingin Sanomat - Finland

Naples has the same problem as everyone else, suggests the Finnish paper: Everyone wants trash removal but no one wants dumps or incinerators in their backyard. "But the protests by residents are simply a part of the trash problem. Most of the blame goes to the administration and the politicians who aren't able to throw out the Camorra, which controls the trash business in Naples. ... Finally the government has held a crisis summit and has decided to take radical action to solve the problem. But is this plausible now ? It should have been dealt with long ago." (09/01/2008)

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Corriere della Sera - Italy

The journalist and writer Pierluigi Battisti wonders if the waste disposal crisis in Naples will mark the end of the 'Second Republic'. This term refers to the political period that began fifteen years ago with the introduction of the majority vote. "Buried under a mountain of rubbish lie the remains of the Second Republic ... . The broken dream of a 'big change' is dumping its debris on a shameful wasteland. Buried in chaos and among the flames of Naples in revolt, the Italy of the Second Republic is taking the form of an accumulation of rubbish that television around the world is broadcasting non-stop like a humiliating symbol of our country. We are far from an Italian Renaissance. ... The blaze ignited in Naples is like a gigantic bonfire of the vanities." (09/01/2008)

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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - Germany

Tobias Piller describes how Naples' trash crisis developed over several years, so that increasing numbers of Neapolitans have turned the emergency into a career. "But the real geniuses were regional president Antonio Bassolino and his predecessor, Andrea Losco, who designed a trash separation system for Naples and the surrounding area: In 2000, about 2,400 garbagemen were hired to collect sorted waste, and 65 million euros were spent on machines and lorries - without any official application process, and cheered on by those in power. The lorries have disappeared. The garbage collectors openly admit that though they have been paid since 2000, they have not gathered a single kilo of trash. ... So the crisis may be a boon to those pulling the strings: If the problem supposedly must be dealt with quickly, it becomes much easier for them to eschew a transparent application process in favour of business associates and political cronies." (09/01/2008)

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