Prodi: mafia and bureaucracy are Italy’s worst problems

Speaking to EUobserver, Prodi highlighted two reasons for Italy’s economic misery.

“I give a lot of responsibility [for the crisis] to criminality, to the mafia,” he said.

“In Italy you have very efficient companies and you have a lot of acquisitions by foreign countries, but no greenfield investment and no research-based investment. Italy is not being chosen for such new initiatives. What do I mean? I mean that foreign companies are willing to buy market share in Italy, but they don’t want to take further risks because of this problem [organised crime] we have in Italy, even if it is limited to certain regions and even if there is an ongoing fight against it,” he added.

He said the second reason is the slow pace of Italian bureaucracy.