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Hay & Menon: European Politics

Italy

Italy was an original member of the European Community, being a signatory state to the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Membership of the EC was seen by the Christian Democratic political leadership of Italy at the time as a means to stabilize the new Italian democracy. Due to high levels of political instability and corruption within the domestic government, the Italian public have historically been amongst the most supportive of European integration within Europe. For the left parties, in contrast, the EC was initially seen as a form of US imperialism and a capitalist club (although both left parties eventually came to support European integration). During the 1990s, in the run-up to its adoption of the Euro, Italian governments were required to undergo a number of austerity measures in order to bring its fiscal performance in line with the Maastricht criteria, which was particularly problematic for the ex-Communists who formed the government between 1996 and 2001. Berlusconi steered the Italian towards a less enthusiastic position on European integration during his period in office from 2001 to 2006. However, the election of ex-Commission President, Romano Prodi, in 2006 suggests that Italy will return to being a strongly pro-European country in the future.