"Don't talk about sanctioning anymore is your own economy and people's livelihood"

"Don't talk about sanctioning anymore is your own economy and people's livelihood"

——The Italian people's mentality of conflict between Russia and Ukraine is changing

[Reporter connection · Russia and Ukraine's conflict influence of the world]

Since the outbreak of the Russian -Ukraine conflict, the Italian government has actively participated in a series of sanctions initiated by the United States and the West, claiming that it will retreat to Russia through sanctions. However, sanctioning this double -edged sword is now being severely damaged by the Italian economy, and ordinary people are difficult to spend time.

The International Monetary Fund predicts that under the influence of multiple adverse factors such as Russia and Ukraine, the Italian economy may have negative growth this year. The latest data of the National Bureau of Statistics shows that more than 5.6 million Italians are currently in an absolute poverty, close to one -tenth of the total population population. The Italian people who struggled in the economic downturn and sleepy life have become increasingly dissatisfied with the government, and demonstrations and strikes from all over the country have risen.

Even cheap products are not easy to find

The first is the energy crisis caused by the embargo of Russia. Italy is scarce, and oil and natural gas rely on imported from Russia. After the outbreak of the Russian -Ukraine conflict, the prices of domestic gasoline and diesel in Italy have soared to more than 2 euros, an increase of 50%compared with the beginning of the year. The Italian government has tried to flatter energy prices through fiscal subsidies. However, it is subject to limited financial resources. In the short term, it cannot find a source of replacement supply, which is difficult to reverse the situation fundamentally.

For Italians who are usually used to self -driving travel, the increase in fuel costs is a lot of expenses. Julio, who worked in a Roman newspaper stall, calculated a account for reporters. His family lived 40 kilometers of suburbs, drove to get off work every day, plus other necessary travel on weekends. It will cost about 300 euros, and his monthly salary is only over 1,000 euros. If you deduct water, electricity, rent, and property expenses, the rest of the money is not enough to maintain his normal life expenses, so he can only go to the supermarket to buy Those cheap and discount products.

What makes Julio even more worrying is that even cheap products are not easy to find. Due to the significant increase in social production costs due to the shortage of energy and food, the domestic prices in Italy have skyrocketed. According to the data of the National Bureau of State Statistics, Italy's inflation rate in June this year was as high as 8%, setting the highest record since January 1986. The increase in energy prices is still the highest, but the trend of inflation to other products categories is becoming more and more obvious. Based on the purchasing power, it is equivalent to the purchasing power of each Italian family in the first half of this year.

In contrast to the rising prices, the average salary of the Italians has not increased compared to 30 years ago, but has declined. It is the only country in the European Union where the average salary does not rise and fall. The Italians exclaimed that if they went on like this, I am afraid that even coffee could not afford it.

In order to retain customers, the merchants tried their best to use various methods. Some of them used raw materials with lower prices, and some secretly reduced the actual weight of the goods, and tried their best to control the price gains on the surface. The problem is that in the face of the basic living needs of clothing, food, housing, people can do it? Julio also has a formal job, and those low -income groups that have not stable work are worse. Among the young people aged 18 to 30 in Italy, three -quarters of people can not even afford rental rents, and they can only be forced to reduce various types of consumption.

Energy increases sharply on the cold winter of the cold winter

The pressure of increasing living expenses is everywhere. The property expenses of the reporter's residence have nearly doubled from last year, mainly due to the significant increase in heating costs. When I first got the bill, the reporter almost dared not believe his eyes. The end time in the Roman region was originally in mid -April each year, but from late March this year, residents in the building have actively requested the property to shorten the daily heating time and end the heating season in advance to save expenses. However, the living habits and schedules of the residents are different, and the property conferences have not been able to reach an agreement on the specific plan. Seeing that it was about to fall into a deadlock, the Roman city government suddenly announced that due to energy shortage, the city will end the heating in advance at the end of March. Neighbors Anna said with a bitter smile to reporters: "It seems that the government can solve some problems."

The heating crisis has just ended, and a rare high temperature and drought weather has put the Italian people into "fiery". Since June this year, Italy has encountered high temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, and the temperature is more than 10 degrees Celsius higher than the same period, and some areas have even refreshed the highest record since the meteorological records. The rainfall this spring has decreased by more than half compared with previous years. The northern region has not had effective rainfall for 4 consecutive months, and it has announced that it has entered an emergency. The continuous high temperature and drought seriously affected agricultural production, which led to a large area of ​​crops and harvesting, which further exacerbated the grain crisis. The Italian Agricultural Department predicts that the worst drought in this 70 years will cause 2 billion to 3 billion euros to Italian agriculture, and major crops such as wheat may reduce production by 20 % to 40 % this year.

The neighbor Anna is almost old, and she is increasingly torture. This year, she wanted to add an air conditioner to her family, but a large amount of expenses and staggering electricity costs made her hesitate to this day. Anna mocked himself: "If you can carry such cool weather this year, it is estimated that you will not need to buy an air conditioner in the future."

Not only Anna who hold this idea. The energy consumption report released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that nearly a quarter of Italian families only use or never use air conditioners in order to save electricity. As a result, a large number of patients who need to be alarm due to heat stroke have recently appeared in various places, and medical resources are overwhelmed. The Italian Energy Research Company predicts that from July 1, the cost of public utilities in Italy will still increase significantly, and gas costs and electricity bills may increase by 27%and 17%, respectively. 657 euros of energy expenditure. Summer shopping and travel vacation deserted

According to the convention, July is a good time for Italians to shopping and travel vacations, but this year's situation is not optimistic.

The Italian Consumer Association predicts that despite the restrictions on epidemic prevention measures, the sales of this summer discount season will still be lower than 2019, and the average expenditure of each family will be only 165 euros. The reporter noticed that there are few long queues at the door of the store, and there are few people who buy big -name luxury goods. People are either empty hands or one or two ordinary cheap products. A survey by the Yippso Consulting Company shows that the Italian purchases of brand products have been reduced by 52%.

In terms of tourism vacation, many people have abandoned this year's vacation plan because of economic constraints. More people choose domestic tourism destinations with relatively cheap prices such as Croatia and Greece. Come and become a luxury.

A poll issued by Yippso recently shows that as the Russian -Ukraine conflict continues, the proportion of Italian interviewees of any other party in Russia has risen to 44%, and the proportion of sanctions on Russia has fallen to 47% More than half of the interviewees are worried about the negative economic impact of conflicts and sanctions to Italy. A message from a netizen reflects the current voice of the Italian people to a certain extent: "The government should not talk about sanctions on Russia, and pay attention to their own economy and people's livelihood."

(Our newspaper Rome, July 14th.

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