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Archived Articles  Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian descent, and former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with the hot political and economic topics, both Bulgarian and international. ("A Royal Solution." World Press Review. June 1997, provides English versions). He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in the country, and in 1996-1997 participated in the international monitors' teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria. In 1999 he was among the few Bulgarian journalists that supported NATO military operation against Yugoslavia. In 2002 Simeon and his family emigrated from Bulgaria to Canada where they now live in Montreal, Quebec.
Global Real Estate Project
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Italy: Berlusconi's agendaSilvio Berlusconi is in power for the third time since the mid-1990s. Italians are moving to the right, and he represents the change. But the problems don't disappear with a magic wand. Italy, in general, is the worst economic performer in Europe, and the only real 'candidate' to drop out the Eurozone. Worse, unlike the last time when Berlusconi became prime minister back in 2001, the general mood in Italy now is gloomy. Nobody expect fast solutions; on the contrary, many expect a prolonged economic recession. Italy was famous for its multiparty near-anarchical situation during the Cold War. Since the early 1990s, it seemed it had entered the age of two-party system. Silvio Berlusconi represents the right pole of this system; together with some smaller nationalist and regionalist parties, he must be seen as the best hope for the big business and the economic development. In fact, if the past was to be a teacher, he wasn't exceptionally good at managing the Italian economy, neither during his first nor second term in office. In fact, by all standards, he did worse in terms of financial prudence than some of his left-wing political opponents. Berlusconi so far hasn't presented anything that would qualify him as the Italian version of Thatcher. Therefore it wasn't his political record but rather the fratricidal fights within the left that brought him back to power. The problems in Italy, either economic or financial or demographic, will persist. Some of them may get even worse. Italy is the worst economic performer in Europe, the 'sick person' that gets down on every international economic index. By most predictions, this and the next year will witness near zero growth. The strong Euro that was adopted mostly for reasons of national prestige in the late 1990s is a roadblock that brings several Italian industries near the point of extinction. The only reason why this economic slump isn't reflected in much higher official unemployment is the demographic crisis and the fact that hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrant workers, acting as economic buffer, aren't for the most part included in the official statistics. Without these immigrants, however, Italy would have to declare for the first time in its history that the population is shrinking. The economic and financial expectations for Italy, in general, are gloomy. This doesn't mean that Italy will stop being among the preferred destinations for other European or American retirees. Berlusconi will have his third chance to prove that the politicians still can overcome major hurdles. I predict that in the case of Italy he won't succeed, but I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
Italy country profile --------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Italy.
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