From: scerir (scerir@libero.it)
Date: Wed Mar 12 2003 - 15:15:25 MST
Amara
Sometime last Fall (not sure when), Berlusconi's government passed a
law that allowed any of the 3 million illegal people in this country
to pay 400 euros, fill out some papers, and have a legal permit of
stay. One million of those followed through, giving the government a
bit of money in the process.
### A similar law (Martelli's law), for illegal people living in Italy,
was issued circa 10 years ago. The new one (Bossi-Fini law) applies
to illegal people, living in Italy, if they can show they were working,
and supporting themselves. Anyway the point is: this is the Italian new
industry, our new economy. Actually we have lost, in the last 30 years,
our chemical industry (Montedison, etc.), our electronic industry
(Olivetti, etc.), our mechanical/motor/car industry (Fiat, etc.).
Thus, as you wrote, Italy, our social system, our economy, our welfare
system needs people coming from abroad, the "extracomunitari".
Unfortunately, given the EU, even people coming from US, or Australia,
or Canada, are "extracominitari" now. And this seems - to me - a bit
paradoxical. Maybe it is just a sign of what, in the future, we'll call
the US-EU divide.
Anders
It is well worth considering that Italy has a higher cultural
power distance (50 in Hofstede's study) than Germany (35) and
Sweden (31) (USA: 40) and a higher uncertainty avoidance
(Sweden 29, USA 46, Germany 65, Italy 75). At the same time
individualism is higher (Germany 67, Sweden 71, Italy 76, USA
91). So following rules and authorities is very important, but
one acts as an individual.
### Many authors here wrote that "Italy is not a nation".
And never was a country. It is just a collection of old little
states, very often speaking different languages (i.e. French,
and German too). And one of the largest was the "Stato Pontificio",
the Pope! All that could easily explain the (above) statistics.
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