English
Italiano Television yes, Cigarettes no – Sky: Violation Procedure –Italian Style
Minister Guilio Tremonti
”If the Italian authorities insist on not aligning the VAT aliquots on pay TV, the E.U. Commission will have to open a violation procedure*” said a spokesman of the European Union. A cry of alarm echoed throughout the peninsula and Minister Tremonti promptly informed them: “ faced with a Community violation procedure, the solution could be only that of alignment.”
But there is another violation procedure against Italy, already under way; it is the one regarding the Minimum Price of cigarettes. Although the figures at stake are considerably higher than those of the VAT on television, this E.U. warning has passed in the most absolute, total and rigorous silence of the government, of the opposition and of the information organs. The government disregards it completely and compliance is ignored.
* A violation procedure is started when it is believed that a Member State has failed in one of the obligations imposed by Community law. It can be initiated by the European Commission (article 226 EC Agreement) or by any Member State against another Member State (article 227 of the EC Agreement).
Minister Paolo Gentiloni, of the center-left government
A similar European mobilization occurred in the summer of 2005: the European Union pointed its finger at the advantages enjoyed by the two Italian communication poles, RAI -Mediaset, in the new market of the land digital TV broadcasting, and the E.U. was ready to start a Violation Procedure against Italy for the “Gasparri” Law on telecommunications.
The minister of the time, Gentiloni (of the previous center-left government) promptly declared: “We have always had the intention of proceeding with those changes, now we must do it”. Obviously, there is the violation procedure….
One Time Each
When the E.U. is about to start a violation procedure if the “Gasparri” law in not reviewed, the minister of the Prodi government hastens to comply, and when the issue is a VAT increase for a competitor of Mediaset, the minister of the Berlusconi government jumps up and immediately obeys.
It might seem that instructions and warnings coming from Brussels enjoy notable consideration in this country. And thanks to the media hammering, today the Italians know perfectly well what a “Violation Procedure” is.
And yet, on the violation procedure regarding cigarette sales, reigns the most total and incredible “omerta” - code of silence. For the market of processed tobaccos, no one makes a move, no one complies and there is a left and right-wing “par condicio”. It almost seems like the Cosa Nostra has added a protection charge on every pack of cigarettes sold in Italy.
Antonio Di Pietro
There is a rumor that in the field of tobacco dealing, almost everybody gets money from the multinationals. “This is why no one does anything about the Minimum Price”, is what they constantly tell us. Could this be true even for the party of that mastiff of values Di Pietro, we wonder? Evidently yes, if he is quiet not only on the most colossal tax evasion of the history of Italy (120 thousand billion never paid by Philip Morris, even with a court sentence) but also on the question of the Minimum Price of cigarettes.
The saddest thing is to think that there are men who, in exchange for petty sops, let foreign companies take away enormous sums from Italy with total impunity. Italian ass-kissers are satisfied with a million, besides esteem, consideration and friendship … and for this kickback, they let their foreign “friends” run off with billions of euro of the Italian people.
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