Italy is seen by many as a kind of third world country, or little better. When you talk about Italy, many compare (in the sense of: putting it on the same level) with Greece, while Italy should actually be compared with Germany, since Italy is the third largest economy in the eurozone.
So it is high time to present a few facts that might change this image somewhat. Presenting facts to make people change their minds is pretty much pointless.
Science has extensively shown in recent years that 'facts' hardly influence what 'we' think, we often prefer to stick to our intuition, our gut feeling.
However, in this case it is not about voting for a party or about good or bad, it is simply about a wrong image that many people have of Italy.
Here are 5 facts about Italy that hardly anyone knows.
1. Italy contributes net to the EU
Every year, Italy neatly transfers several billion euros to the EU. That is something that makes almost everyone flap their ears. How it is possible that hardly anyone knows that Italy contributes to the EU budget while Italy is seen by almost everyone as a cost to our collective European community, the black dangerous sheep, is beyond me.
Italy was – just like the Netherlands and Belgium – one of the founders of the EEC and has always contributed in all areas ('little stone' sounds like something small and in this case I don't think it's appropriate).
2. Italy exports more than it imports
Italy's trade balance is very healthy, thanks to a (still) strong industry and agriculture. Italy's trade balance has always been positive, with billions more in exports than in imports.
Italy exports most to Germany and France and also imports most from those countries. Italy also imports a lot from the Netherlands. In 2017, imports from the Netherlands amounted to almost 25 billion euros. The Netherlands only imported 11,5 billion from Italy. Unfortunately, Italy also exports a lot to America, which could now cause problems with America's new tariffs.
Italy was the world's 2017th largest exporter and 7th largest importer in 10.
3. Banking crisis?
When many large banks threatened to collapse in 2008, not a single Italian bank was among them. The Italian banks had hardly any risky loans at the time and coped very well with this very severe crisis. Hardly anyone remembers this, because it's never really talked about.
Italy contributed generously to the rescue of the Dutch, German and French banks, while pensions in the country were being cut and many hospitals were closed because there was 'no money' left.
Since then, the crisis in Italy has not ended, many companies have gone bankrupt and unemployment remains high. This, among other things, has caused several Italian banks to get into trouble. A number of smaller banks have gone bankrupt and thousands of Italians have lost their investments.
In Europe, in the meantime, a new law had been passed, the Bail In, whereby banks would no longer be allowed to be bailed out by a state and the shareholders would have to pay for it and lose their investments in a bank.
4. Excellent health care
Italy was the third best country in the world in 2016 in terms of the healthcare (according to The global competitiveness report 2016-2017). First was Japan and second was Spain. Healthcare in Italy has not yet been privatized, although more and more people are going to private clinics due to waiting lists in hospitals.
The excellent system that Italy has had for years is beginning to be nibbled on from all sides, but in 2016 Italy did a fantastic job globally.
As I wrote, many hospitals have closed in recent years because there is no money, so the fact that Italy still ranks so high is astonishing. Perhaps this says more about how bad it is in other countries than how good it is in Italy.
5. High government debt
These are some points to think about. Italy has a high public debt that is talked about all the time, but all obligations are always paid, so it is just talking and scaring everyone about the danger that Italy can no longer meet its obligations.
In the meantime, it is rarely, if ever, in the news that Italy is actually not doing so badly on a global scale.
It is also interesting how Italy arrives at this high government debt. When Italy decided to join the currency union, debt was low. Once he lost control of his monetary policy, the national debt started to rise steadily.
