Italy's economic ministry post was filled Friday in a bid by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to end a crisis that blew up this month when a key ally resigned and he controversially took personal command of the key portfolio.
The new head of the super-ministry for economy and finance is Domenico Siniscalco, hitherto head of the Treasury and a second-in-command in the economy ministry.
Yielding to pressure from inside his four-party coalition, Berlusconi announced Friday: "My interim period in the economy and finance ministry ends today and I am going to propose the nomination of a new minister to the head of state."
The appointment was confirmed by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
Siniscalco, born in 1954, is a Turin economics professor who has been serving as director-general at the Treasury in Rome, a key post that is the equivalent of No. 2 in the economy ministry, whose incumbent focuses on privatization policy.
Berlusconi had been under pressure from coalition partners to find someone for the post after he took over the portfolio personally following the resignation of Giulio Tremonti nearly two weeks ago.
The appointment Friday was aimed at ending a government crisis after Tremonti's departure under pressure from Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, leader of the National Alliance, another coalition member.
Tremonti was close to both Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi, flamboyant head of the Northern League, also a coalition partner.
But Bossi, currently hospitalized, was not able to ride to Tremonti's rescue in the crisis two weeks ago.
Fini expressed satisfaction Friday at Berlusconi's decision and said the new minister would be judged according to the way he observed responsiblity in government in decision-making.
Berlusconi had also come under pressure from his Christian Democrat coalition partners to relinquish the economy post, which they said concentrated too much power in his hands.
But the populist Northern League refused to endorse the new appointment Friday.
"The League refuses to agree to any replacement or any new government appointment," it said.
"Unless Tremonti returns it will not participate in any session devoted to this end," party deputy chief Roberto Calderoli said.
Siniscalco has a degree in law from Turin and a doctorate in economics from Cambridge.
Tremonti was forced out on July 3 at the demand of Fini, who had raised the stakes in the simmering government crisis by demanding a change in economic policy, threatening to quit.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
RSS