To mix a metaphor or two, just when Premier Enrico Letta's government seemed to have a green light, a spanner was tossed into the works: the budget bill, hammered together in late evening sessions this week by Letta and his governing coalition partner Angelino Alfano of the center-right Partito della Liberta'-Forza Italia. Supposedly this draft budget for 2014, which went before the Chamber of Deputies this week but is still far from being approved, is meant to reduce the pressure on tax payers while also stimulating the economy. So far it has satisfied very few in the center-right and angering the trade unions, which threaten to call a general strike.
