Tommaso Nencioni has a PhD from Bologna University. He recently published Crisis. Non c’è che crisi.
Italy’s Five Star Movement was long a classic “populist” movement, rejecting ideological labels. Its recent decision to join the left-wing group in the EU parliament is the latest step in a turn toward a more distinctly pro-labor, pacifist stance.
For decades, German governments have pursued the project of a free-market European empire. Today the war in Ukraine and US pressure are undermining the economic foundations of its hegemony — and Germany’s political leadership seems unable to respond.
Italy’s Democrats have often posed as a guarantor of institutional stability and Rome’s Atlanticist line. Current leader Elly Schlein has tacked left, but it’s done little to change the party’s identity as a force for steadying Italian capitalism.