Italian Unions and Economic Reforms

The Italian government has presented labor law reforms that seek to increase labor market flexibility by making the dismissal of employees less costly for companies. Although the law will be approved with the support of the major parties, unions were able to modify the initial proposals, showing that the Italian unions are among the most powerful in Europe, unlike other countries such as Spain and Portugal where the unions failed to influence the legislative process. The pressure from such influential unions will slow Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's reform momentum in the second half of 2012.