Forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for the debts of failed banks was supposed to have been outlawed in the EU after the 2008 cataclysm. So no surprises there are grumbling of discontent, especially in Germany, when Italy was allowed to do just that to mop up the mess after two regional banks threatened to implode. “Hedge funds have just made a lot of money, and the taxpayers are the big losers,” said one Italian banker.
The furore over Brexit and some encouraging economic signs, have obscured the fact that the EU continues to struggle with intractable and probably insoluble fiscal problems.
The European Central Bank 1 Jan 1999 12 am chart, has tr Pluto in a trapped square to Mars exact now and repeating till late 2018; with tr Uranus in a jolting conjunction to Saturn and square the financial Venus in 2017 until early 2018. 2018 sees tr Saturn in a discouraging conjunction to the Sun and tr Uranus in a high-anxiety square to Neptune; with insecurity and crisis in 2019 and worse in 2020 from Solar Arc Mars square Uranus.
The Bank of Italy chart, 10 Aug 1893, looks unstable and undermined in 2017/18 with tr Neptune square the 8th house Pluto Neptune and opposition the financial Venus; with a major destabilising upheaval in 2018 from Solar Arc Uranus square Pluto; which will continue to cause headaches as the Solar Arc continues to square the Pluto/Neptune midpoint, then Neptune into the early 2020s, which will bring outright panic and confusion. Plus tr Uranus opposition Uranus for more disruptions in 2019/2020.
Italy has not flourished in the EU’s fiscal strait-jacket with its GDP down 8% since 2008 partly the result of EU policies. The relationship between Italy and the EU, always uncertain with a composite Pluto Uranus opposition Neptune, and a ratchety Mars trine Saturn, will worsen over the next two years.
The key player in all this is Germany which is regarding Macron’s vision for closer financial ties between the EU 27 as tantamount to making them the deep pocket for other countries’ debts. That relationship, between Germany and the EU, is rocking and rolling ferociously through 2018/19 with tr Uranus in hard aspect to the composite Grand Cross of Venus opposition Uranus square Mars opposition Moon; plus a discouraging/separating tr Saturn conjunct the composite Sun and opposition Pluto in 2018.
Few people seem to recall that Italy’s problems predate Euro. In fact, despite some very creative bookkeeping they failed to meet acceptable national debt limit at the time, as did Greece. They were only let in with a promise to bring their debt down, well before financial crisis of 2008.
Also, their economic growth wasn’t much better between 1998 and 2008 than it has been in the past 10 years. Salaries were and are stalled, which is a big cause of the current Italian banking crises. MPS Bank that’s been in the verge of collapsing for years was the first bank in Italy to offer mortgages, and billions in bad loans they’ve gathered are mostly mortgages.
So, not a new situation for Italy! Their saving grace really is they still have manufacturing industry making distinctive products, which would definitely gain from a weaker euro. In fact, in this sense they are better off than The UK, relying on financial industry now fleeing the country.