TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2014 INTERNATIONAL Renzi to form new Italian govt Negotiations with partners likely to last days ROME: Italian centre-left leader Matteo create jobs, reduce taxes and cut back the Renzi said yesterday he would begin talks to stifling bureaucracy weighing on employers form a new government within 24 hours, and business, but has offered few specific and expected to lay out a program of policy proposals and a promised Jobs Act reforms to be completed over the next few expected last month has been delayed. months. Renzi needs to seal a formal coali- However, he said he expected to lay out full tion deal with the small centre-right NCD reforms to Italy’s electoral law and political party to secure a majority and to name his institutions by the end of February, to be cabinet before seeking a formal vote of con- followed by labor reforms in March, an over- fidence in parliament, probably later this haul of the public administration in April week. and a tax reform in May. He has promised a radical program of action to lift Italy out of its most serious Economy ministry choice eyed KIEV: A man walks past graffiti reading “Revolution 2014” on a building yesterday.—AFP economic slump since World War Two, but With the formal steps leading to the for- will have to deal with the same unwieldy mation of a new government underway, coalition which failed to pass major reforms attention has focused on Renzi’s likely Ukraine oppn eyes curbs under its previous leader. “In this difficult choice as economy minister who will be situation, I will bring all the energy and vital to reassuring Italy’s international part- on Yanukovich’s powers commitment I am capable of,” he told ners. Speculation has concentrated on reporters after a 90-minute meeting with Lucrezia Reichlin, a professor at the London KIEV: Ukraine’s opposition leaders yesterday in November when he spurned a free trade President Giorgio Napolitano when he was School of Economics who is also in the run- pressed President Viktor Yanukovich to accept agreement long in the making with the given a mandate to form a new govern- ning to become deputy governor of the curbs on his powers that would allow them to European Union and opted for $15 billion in ment. Bank of England. form an independent government to defuse Russian credits and cheaper gas. “The sense of urgency is extraordinarily If confirmed, her appointment would con- a 12-week stand-off on the streets and save The revolt spiralled into countrywide delicate and important but it’s also true tinue a series of technocrat finance ministers the economy from collapse. A government protests at perceived sleaze and corruption in that, given the time horizon we have set of following Bank of Italy official Fabrizio amnesty for activists detained during mass the Yanukovich administration, and has trig- a full parliamentary term, we’ll need a few Saccomanni, the incumbent, and his prede- unrest came into force after protesters ended gered a tussle between East and West. As days before formally accepting the man- cessor Vittorio Grilli, a senior official from the their occupation of Kiev’s City Hall and other Russia beckons with the aid package, the date,” he said. The 39-year-old mayor of Treasury. Other possible candidates include municipal buildings in the country. United States and its Western allies have Florence has been expected to take over Fabrizio Barca, a minister in the technocrat Matteo Renzi But tension remained high with the oppo- urged Yanukovich to move back towards an since he engineered the removal of his par- government of Mario Monti which ran Italy sition accusing Yanukovich and his allies of IMF-backed deal with Europe. ty rival Enrico Letta as prime minister at a from 2011 until last year, and Giampaolo cent of GDP ceiling. Renzi has said that Italy delaying discussion that could lead to his meeting of the Democratic Party leadership Galli, a PD member of parliament and former should be allowed to break the borrowing relinquishing what they see as “dictatorial” Club-wielding militia last week, following growing impatience Bank of Italy economist with a background limits in exchange for structural reforms to powers. They suspect him of trying to slow An amnesty came into force yesterday with the slow pace of economic reforms. in the business association Confindustria. encourage economic growth, an approach down the momentum of the protest move- after scores of protesters, including a masked The euro-zone’s third largest economy is Renzi declined to comment on the possible which could cause conflict with EU partners ment. But with foreign currency reserves and club-wielding “self-defence’ militia num- technically no longer in recession since it makeup of his cabinet. “Our attention is on including Germany. Financial markets, depleted by repeated moves to prop up the bering about 100, ended a two-month occu- scraped back into growth in the fourth content and not other issues,” he told which nearly sent Italy crashing out of the weak hryvnia and fears of a devaluation pation of city hall. The amnesty, applauded by quarter of 2013. However, it remains pro- reporters after meeting the president. One euro-zone little more than two years ago, growing by the day, Yanukovich is increasing- the European Union and the OSCE rights foundly marked by the crisis with a 2 trillion area which European Union partners will be have reacted favourably to his expected ly under pressure to name a new prime minis- body, means that criminal charges will be euro ($2.7 trillion) public debt, a rapidly watching closely is budget policy, an area nomination with 10 year bond yields falling ter to replace the Russian-born Mykola dropped against those protesters for viola- crumbling industrial base and millions out where Letta stuck to strict Brussels ortho- to their lowest level in eight years yester- Azarov, whom he sacked on Jan 28. tions committed between Dec 27 and Feb 2. of work. Renzi has promised swift action to doxy, squeezing the deficit within the 3 per- day. — Reuters His choice could speed up disbursement That period includes a week of clashes in of fresh credits under a $15 billion bailout January involving radical activists in which six package from Russia - a quick fix for the heav- people were killed and hundreds of police ily indebted economy. But if he resists calls for and protesters injured. constitutional change and names another Despite the conciliatory moves, the mood Rescued S Africa miners arrested hardliner, the streets could return to uproar. on the Maidan, the local name for “People want a complete rebooting of the Independence Square which is the focal point BENONI:Twenty two artisanal gold miners They were given a cold drink and medical tions for weeks on end as they dig out small system, that’s the main thing,” said boxer- of the protests, remained truculent yesterday. who came out of a disused and temporarily check before being taken away to the near- parcels of gold-bearing ore. turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko, one of three “I can’t see that anything much has changed - blocked shaft near Johannesburg over the by police station Reporters were not allowed Many are illegal migrants from opposition leaders who are pressing for a people still want the leadership to go. And last two days have been arrested and will be to speak to them, and police and private Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho. Fatal return to an old constitution that would the amnesty law does not change anything. charged with illegal mining, South African mine security guards stood guard at the accidents are common, and underground remove presidential control of the govern- Parliament has got to understand that every- police said yesterday. Ten of the men entrance to the ventilation shaft in case an battles between rival groups have also been ment and the judiciary. thing has to be changed - the constitution, emerged blinking in the sunlight and cov- unknown number of other miners who reported. Bullion producer Gold One, which “We are being told that this constitution the laws, the president and even the parlia- ered in yellow-brown dust yesterday in a refused to come up changed their minds. owns the mine, had blocked the shaft with a can only be drawn up by September. But we ment,” said Viktor Stelmakh, 45, from the field in Benoni, a town east of Johannesburg, Illegal mining of abandoned shafts is com- large slab to prevent access but the illegal are in a critical situation when people are Zhytomyr region west of Kiev. adding to a dozen who came up the previ- mon in the gold mines around miners burrowed around it. The slab then demanding to be heard immediately,” he said “I don’t want today’s Yanukovich to be sim- ous day after a crane removed a concrete Johannesburg, with informal miners living shifted, blocking their exit until it was yesterday at a meeting of parliamentary fac- ply replaced by another new Yanukovich,” he slab blocking their exit. underground in dangerous, cramped condi- removed by rescue workers. — Reuters tions. The unrest was sparked by Yanukovich added. —Reuters .