Lavish Rome Treaty Summit Will Skirt Issues in Stumbling Italy
- Slow recovery from slump makes host nation EU’s ‘weakest link’
- Italians’ euro disenchantment poses limits for EU progress
This article is for subscribers only.
As leaders celebrate the European Union’s 60th birthday in Rome this weekend, the host nation may be hoping that a pomp-filled ceremony distracts from any probing questions.
Overshadowed by the sting of Brexit and elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany, Italy’s lingering problems have left it as the weak link among Europe’s powerhouse economies. It’s stumbling through a stop-start slow recovery from a record-long recession, unemployment is twice that of Germany’s, and voters, weary of EU institutions, are flirting with the same kind of populism grabbing attention elsewhere.