The whole world is country. While Italy is still looking for itself and for a new government, it would seem that not everyone around Europe is laughing at it either. Even those who have a government, theoretically solid as they were elected less than a year ago and without the pitfalls of Porcellum, such as France, where President Hollande saw the image of his executive wreck in a few days (resignation of the minister of Finance Cahuzac after having admitted having accounts abroad) and of his own party, with the story revealed today by Le Monde according to which trusted treasurer Jean-Jacques Augier is a shareholder in two offshore companies in the Cayman Islands.
"Nothing illegal", Augier defended himself, but the story nonetheless makes a gauche blush who had based a good part of his electoral campaign on the moralization of public activity, and who now sees his own voters cooling off their enthusiasm towards than a president elected just over 10 months ago: not even two out of three of them (62%) would renew their trust in Hollande. Not to mention all the French: less than 30% of citizens are currently satisfied with their president, an unprecedented negative record in the history of the Transalpine Republic.
But things aren't much better on the other side of the Rhine: the rich Germany of Angela Merkel (paparadized during the Easter holidays in Ischia, a circumstance that would have irritated her not a little) today offers the Teutonic version of the Italian MPS case to the international news, with all the precautions and due proportions. Deutsche Bank, the largest credit institution in the country, has in fact ended up in the crosshairs of the very strict Bundesbank: according to what was reported by the Financial Times three former executives are said to have concealed losses of between 4 and 12 billion dollars on derivative contracts complexes at the height of the global financial crisis between 2007 and 2009. Frankfurt flatly denies it but the case exists and follows an investigation launched at the end of last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission (Sec), the supervisory body on US markets.
Finally, Spain, notoriously Italy's companion in misfortune, according to the Mediterranean tradition. The euro area's fourth largest economy, on top of everything else is now involved in one scandal that shakes even the throne of King Juan Carlos, ready to abdicate in favor of his son Felipe after the summoning of Infanta Cristina before the judge for her alleged involvement in the Noos case. The blue-blooded 47-year-old could in fact play a compromising role in the corruption investigation opened at the end of 2011 by the court of Palma de Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands, where she will now have to testify as a "suspicious person" in the case involving her husband Inaki Urdangarin, ex handball champion who (awkwardly?) got down to business.
According to the judiciary, the Noos Foundation would have organized various events related to the world of sport for the government of the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands, justifying the public money received by the regional government with false or inflated bills, in the period under review (2003-2007) for a total of six million public funds. The same type of offense, among other things, which within the European Union is contested against Real Madrid, one of the richest football clubs in the world and which has always been linked to the royal dynasty. Brussels suspects that Florentino Perez's company has overvalued - by selling them to the Municipality of Madrid - some owned land, inflating its value by 5400%, from 421 thousand euros to almost 23 million.
Italy hastens to form a new government: we just need to fall behind.
