|
|
Post by pieter on Mar 31, 2020 16:25:00 GMT -7
  Italians message to the Netherlands: 'Stand on the right side of history' A triage department of the Spedali di Brescia hospital in northern Italy which has been the worst-affected region of Italy Hospitals in Italy are overcrowded and the already empty Italian treasury is quickly showing the bottom. And so the request for European financial support comes from Rome, a request that - to put it mildly - has little resonance in The Hague.
That was the reason for a number of prominent Italians for a remarkable open letter in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in which the Netherlands gets a blow.
"The Dutch attitude shows a lack of solidarity and ethics in every respect. Dear German friends, you are one of the greatest European nations. Not among the followers of narrow national egoism. Together we can prove that Europe is stronger than those who want to weaken Europe. "is stated in the letter.
It is a direct appeal to Germany to distance itself from the Netherlands and signed by twelve Italian mayors, governors and MEPs. One of them is former minister and MEP Carlo Calenda. "If the EU cannot cope with this major crisis, what is the use of the EU?" He says.Quick measuresAccording to Calenda, the talies are not asking the EU for money to pay its debts, but for money that must go to a major European plan that will benefit all European countries and citizens. "We want the EU to have enough budget to deal with the crisis."
Bologna's mayor, Virginio Merola, says the EU needs to come up with joint measures quickly. "It is about measures against a recession. We must act together, for companies, for people who feel the consequences of this crisis. We are certainly not asking the Netherlands to take on our national debt."
Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra acknowledges today that the cabinet has not been empathetic enough towards Southern Europe. "We should have expressed better last week that we want to help. For Rutte and me, we should have said otherwise."Credit lineIt is a repetition of moves for Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti during the 2012 financial crisis. "But everyone has to understand that this time it is a crisis that is happening to our countries. This time it has nothing to do with 'la dolce vita' from a country that is not in balance."
He advocates a "credit line" for health care. "Credit that supports medical care in EU countries and can be used to restart the economy. If health care in Italy is in order, it will also benefit citizens in the northern countries."The Netherlands and Germany oppose the issue of joint government bonds (so-called euro or corona bonds), which would make borrowing money for countries such as Spain and Italy much cheaper. Another point of discussion is the mobilization of the EU emergency fund ESM of € 410 billion. The cabinet only wants to allow this under strict conditions.
The Italians are now mainly looking to the Germans for a solution. "They have the key, they can come up with a political solution," said Mayor Merola. "Germany has been helped after WWII by countries such as France, Belgium and Italy, now is the time that Germany is taking a clear position," said MEP Calenda. "The Germans can decide whether they want a Europe of nations, with each one alone. Or a strong and united Europe."
His appeal to the Dutch cabinet is to "stand on the good side of history". "And not on the wrong side: the side of the crisis, of the demolition. Go on the side of the building. That will be a political legacy. Because in Europe, nothing will ever be like it was before."
Former Prime Minister Monti thinks the future of the EU is at stake because the corona crisis complicates everything. "A difference of opinion between the North and the South will not make things any better." |
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Mar 31, 2020 16:32:46 GMT -7
 Anger in Italy over Dutch "ruthless money-lenders"Many Italians see the Netherlands as the leader of a campaign against their country. Some even call for a boycott of products and tourists from the Netherlands.Marc Leijendekker, March 30, 2020/s3/static.nrc.nl/images/gn4/stripped/data56943340-7982ee.jpg) Funeral directors this Monday morning on their way to a final resting place for a corona victim in the southern Italian city of Cisternino. Photo Alessandro Garofalo / ReutersFrom the president and major newspapers to facebook: there is a wave of criticism of the Netherlands by Italy. Sometimes it even becomes outright hatred and the slave trade and Srebrenica are brought in.
Many Italians feel let down by Europe as the country is hit so hard by the corona virus. At their video summit last Thursday, European government leaders were unable to reach an agreement on the conditions for calling on the euro emergency fund ESM and on the use of eurobonds to mitigate the economic and financial consequences of the pandemic. The Netherlands is seen as the captain in a campaign against Italy. In this view, Germany, Austria and Finland support the cold words of the Dutch side.
An hour after Pope Francis pleaded for solidarity in a worldwide prayer service on Friday afternoon, President Sergio Mattarella spoke in a speech to the nation. The 78-year-old head of state tends to be cautious in the debate, but now has a barely disguised appeal to the Netherlands: "I hope everyone is aware of the seriousness of the threat to Europe before it is too late."
Most newspapers are extremely critical. Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica have written in recent days about Prime Minister Mark Rutte's (CRD) 'cruelty' and about the Netherlands as a tax haven for Italian multinationals, causing Italy to miss out on tax revenues.
A dissonant in the media was the Brussels correspondent of the business newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. In a blog, he asked for understanding of the Dutch position. He wrote: "Is it really surprising, in a federal context in which the stability of one depends on the stability of the other, that the Netherlands does not want to borrow public money without conditions and without costs?"Olandiamo (Dutchman)The Dutch embassy linked to the piece on his Facebook page, Olandiamo. That is not exactly a place where the trolls of the internet gather. But in the reactions, in addition to a few who support the Dutch reasoning, anger and incomprehension predominate.
People are calling for a boycott of Dutch products and tourists. Many critics wrap it up in arguments, saying that Europe is more than just money. The Dutch are "selfish people who should be ashamed", "dig themselves in for their well-being", are "brutal money-lenders".
The anger goes over too. The slave trade is brought in, the Dutch action around the fall of Srebrenica, even the Duke of Alva from the Eighty Years' War. The Netherlands is called a collection of 'profiteers, scammers' because of its role as a tax haven, they stab you in the back, the Netherlands is 'the rotten place in Europe'.Narrow-minded and pettyThe fact that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama sent ten doctors and twenty nurses this weekend, partly as a thank you for Italian help with the November earthquake in the Balkans, is contrasted with the Dutch position. "After the lesson in generosity, empathy and civilization of Prime Minister Edi Rama, does Mr. Rutte not feel petty and petty?"
Above the message on the embassy's Facebook page about the article in Il Sole 24 Ore was a newer post about the Decamerone by the fourteenth-century Italian writer and poet Giovanni Boccaccio. The famous quarantine name story is now brought online by the International Theater Amsterdam. Also under that post angry reactions. Like marketing consultant Alessandro Campinoti: "You don't deserve our culture." |
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Mar 31, 2020 16:41:58 GMT -7
|
|
|
|
Post by karl on Mar 31, 2020 20:20:23 GMT -7
Pieter
I must say, the Italian mood is certainly quite very sauer with heaping such bad words against The Netherlands as represented by Finanzminister Hoekstra as presented in the publication of The Frankfurter Allgemein.
It appears Italy has ignored in past to keep and maintain a certain amount of good book keeping and manor of tax collection from those individuals using the Netherlands as a tax haven to dodge out of paying their Italian taxes.
For as Mr. Hoekstra has explained, there is a reason The Netherlands is the least indebted countries in Europe in contrast to Italy. For this was at a cost of austerity measures in Cultural budgets, cut of public services with restrictions. {this was fully described in the body of the artical}.
It is true though, for some reason Italy has been hit with extreme prejudice in the manner of this new viral disease for what ever reason..What is next is a question that time will tell when the time comes.
Karl
|
|
