Berlusconi unveils Italy priorities
Italian road and building companies shares rise on hopes of renewed spending.
Published On 15 Apr 2008
The leader of the conservative People of Freedom party won a clear majority in both of Italy’s houses of parliament on Monday and the result was warmly welcomed in certain areas of the economy.
Construction gains
In a research note, investment bank Abaxbank, said: “With the centre-right’s election win… we believe that all shares linked to infrastructure and those in niche sectors with strong business talent will mostly end up having a strong advantage.”
Profile |
Impregilo, Italy’s largest builder, was up 2.7 per cent by Tuesday morning.
The company had headed a consortium to build the Sicily bridge under Berlusconi’s 2001 to 2006 government but the outgoing centre-left government scrapped the plan.
Construction company Astaldi also rose 2.46 per cent.
Berlusconi counts cleaning up the Naples rubbish and rescuing Alitalia among his top domestic priorities.
Naples clean-up
Air France and KLM broke off talks aimed at taking over the cash strapped airline earlier this month.
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Berlusconi promised to “be in Naples three days a week” to deal with the crisis.
Election results indicated that he scored highly among Naples voters.
Berlusconi vowed to co-operate with Italy’s neighbours in “deporting non-EU citizens who are here and do not have work or a home and are forced into crime in order to live”.
With regard to Italy’s foreign policy, Barbara Serra, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Rome, said: “Mr Berlusconi is a very flamboyant, international figure, very pro-American, he often stood shoulder to shoulder with George Bush [the US president].
“Italy was in Iraq after the invasion, they have since withdrawn but have troops in Afghanistan. As a rule, Berlusconi has been with the US rather than Europe, whether he will continue to be we will have to wait and see.”
Italy’s early election was called after the centre-left coalition government of Romano Prodi collapsed in January, having completed 20 months in power.
Source: News Agencies