Europe’s Poverty Time Bomb
Poverty, especially among the young, has been a growing problem across many European countries since the 2008 financial crisis. And now political leaders in hard-hit countries like Italy are calling attention to the issue in the worst way possible: by promising quick fixes that won't work and would jeopardize government budgets.
MADRID – The poor don’t often decide elections in the advanced world, and yet they are being wooed heavily in Italy’s current electoral campaign. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of Forza Italia, has proposed a “dignity income,” while Beppe Grillo, the comedian and shadow leader of the Five Star Movement, has likewise called for a “citizenship income.”