A citizens’ basic income of €780 a month, a fiscal stimulus, a national investment bank and a defiant middle finger to the European Commission should it dare stand in the way. There is a lot in the coalition agreement of the new Italian government for the left to like. But it comes laden with racism, nationalism, a commitment to conservative “family values” – and the promise of a war on undocumented migrants and the Roma community.
Above all, the economic programme of the coalition to be formed today by the populist Five Stars Movement and the right-wing xenophobes of the Northern Leagues, is firmly tilted towards the small state, free market policies of the latter. It is, in short, the first coherent example in Europe of what I’ve called “neoliberalism in one country”.
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