Matteo Renzi News

The chief executive of Italian defence group Leonardo on Friday dismissed the idea of a potential tie-up with shipbuilder Fincantieri recently floated by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.The two groups are both controlled by Italy's Treasury and cooperate in the military shipbuilding sector.According to Renzi, who has no ministerial role in the government but whose political movement holds the balance of power in the ruling coalition, a merger would create a national champion and increase Rome's ability to invest in the defence and space sectors.Attending a public event, Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo said further diversifying the company's business could be counter-productive."In some cases putting together many businesses could become a limit…

More than 1,000 migrants were plucked from overcrowded boats and 16 bodies were recovered in the past two days, Italy's coastguard said on Monday, adding to the already record number of arrivals this year. Coastguard ships recovered some 800 migrants from nine different vessels on Sunday, the coastal service said, and coordinated the rescue of another 230 boat migrants on Monday. As of Dec. 1, Italy had taken in more than 173,000 boat migrants this year, beating the previous record of 170,000 set in 2014. In all, about a half million have come in the past three years. Italy has borne the brunt of new arrivals since the implementation in March of an agreement between the European Union and Turkey to curb the flow of migrants sailing for Greece.

Italy went to the polls on Sunday for a referendum on off-shore oil and gas drilling rights, a complex issue that the government hopes voters will shun. For the ballot to be valid, more than 50 percent of the Italian electorate must vote and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has urged people to stay away, saying that the referendum is unnecessary and might end up hurting the economy. It would be a blow to Renzi if substantial numbers did turn out, suggesting voters were ready to snub him just weeks before major local elections. But opinion polls have indicated that a quorum will not be reached. The referendum focuses on whether Italy should stop renewing offshore drilling licenses within 12 miles (20 km) of the coast.

Italy announced 4.8 billion euros ($5.45 billion) in credit lines and financial guarantees to relaunch exports to Iran, the Italian export agency said on Tuesday during Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's visit to Tehran.   Italy's state-run lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti will offer credit lines worth 4 billion euros to companies building oil-and-gas and transport infrastructure, while export agency SACE will guarantee those loans,a SACE statement said.   A further 800 million euros in credit lines for small- and medium-sized will also be offered, the statement said.     ($1 = 0.8758 euros) (Reporting by Steve Scherer, editing by Isla Binnie)

Shipbuilding group Fincantieri said it has signed a number of framework agreements with some primary Iranian companies. The preliminary understandings were reached in the presence of the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and the President of Iran Hassan Rouhani on an official visit in Italy and are prior to the accomplishment of several contracts worth some hundred million euros and to the potential development of joint activities, the shipbuilder said. As part of the deals, Fincantieri has reached a cooperation and development agreement with Azim Gostaresh Hormoz Shipbuilding Industry Co (AGH), a new shipyard in the Persian Gulf within the special economic zone…

Italy's navy said on Thursday it had recovered 118 bodies in a four-month underwater operation on the wreck of a fishing boat that sank in April with up to 800 migrants on board. It laid a wreath on the deck of the sunken vessel with the help of a robotic arm. The shipwreck, believed to be the most deadly in the Mediterranean in decades, became a symbol of Europe's migration crisis and prompted the European Union to expand its rescue mission off the Libyan coast. The technical analysis of the 20-metre (65.5 ft) shipwreck is complete, opening the way for the recovery of the vessel as Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has pledged to do, the navy said in a statement. Bodies were recovered from the seabed around the ship, but many more may still be trapped below deck.

Italy's navy said on Tuesday it had retrieved the first bodies from the wreck of a boat that sank in the Mediterranean three months ago, killing up to 800 migrants attempting to cross from Libya to Europe. Recovery operations started on Monday, using remote-controlled vehicles and a container called a "Big Bag" in a submersible basket to haul the bodies up from the fishing boat, which is lying at a depth of about 370 metres (1,200 feet). The disaster, believed to be the worst in decades of perilous sea-borne migration from North Africa, has shocked the European Union into expanding rescue operations. The navy said it had pulled out eight bodies so far from the shipwreck, which happened about 135 km (85 miles) north of Libya.

Two smugglers arrested over the deaths of hundreds drowned in the Mediterranean's most deadly shipwreck in decades will not be charged with kidnapping because assertions that migrants had been locked below deck had proved wrong, an Italian prosecutor said on Tuesday. The two face homicide charges over the sinking of a 20-metre fishing boat last month that killed some 800 migrants. The incident also raised international alarm about attempts by thousands to flee across the Mediterranean from Libya in often ramshackle boats. Italy will undertake the expensive and difficult operation of pulling up the vessel from the sea bed where it lies at a depth of around 375 metres (1,235 feet), 135 km (85 miles) north of Libya, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Tuesday.

British and German warships made ready to sail for waters off Libya as Europe ramped up rescue operations in the Mediterranean after up to 900 desperate migrants drowned last weekend on a boat heading for Italy. Yet hours after European Union leaders agreed in Brussels on Thursday to treble funding for EU maritime missions and pledged more ships and aircraft, 14 clandestine migrants were killed when a train ploughed into dozens of Somalis and Afghans making their way in darkness along a rail track in a Macedonian gorge. The incident highlighted the variety of routes that growing numbers are taking to escape war and poverty in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and chance their luck in a wealthy region that offers, at best, a chilly welcome.

The U.N. refugee agency on Tuesday urged European leaders to put the protection of migrants at the center of debate over the crisis in the Mediterranean and to do more to help Greece and Italy cope. After as many as 900 people drowned in a ship off the coast of Libya this weekend, EU ministers on Monday called an extraordinary summit for Thursday and made an action plan. More than 36,000 have tried to cross the Mediterranean this year, the UNHCR says, mostly from Libya, and nearly 1,800 are feared to have died in the attempt. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomed the plan as a good start but noted its emphasis on law enforcement.

The European Union proposed doubling the size of its Mediterranean search and rescue operations on Monday, as the first bodies were brought ashore of some 900 people feared killed in the deadliest shipwreck while trying to reach Europe. Three other rescue operations were underway on Monday to save hundreds more migrants in peril on overloaded vessels making the journey from the north coast of Africa to Europe. The mass deaths have caused shock in Europe, where a decision to scale back naval operations last year seems to have increased the risks for migrants without reducing their numbers. "The situation in the Mediterranean is dramatic.

EU foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg; 24 corpses carried off Italian patrol ship in Malta. Death toll from Sunday's shipwreck off Libya still unclear. European Union foreign ministers gathered in Luxembourg on Monday under pressure to produce more than words as bodies were brought ashore in Malta among hundreds feared drowned in the latest Mediterranean migrant tragedy. The death toll from Sunday's shipwreck off the coast of Libya was uncertain after officials said there had been at least 700 people on board, some reportedly locked in the hold. Hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the east, another vessel carrying dozens of migrants ran aground off the Greek island of Rhodes on Monday. Greek coast guards said at least three people were killed.

Italian and merchant ships rescued around 1,000 migrants from three overcrowded skiffs near the coast of Libya and found one dead body, Italy's coast guard said. The migrants sent out a distress call by satellite phone on Friday and were being taken to ports in Sicily, the coast guard added in a statement, without giving details of their nationalities. Two other inflatable boats carrying 73 people -- identified as Syrians, Kurds and Somalis -- were intercepted by police off the Italian coast near Puglia, according to a separate statement from the police. Two Albanian smugglers were arrested in the operation. Refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa regularly risk the hazardous journey across the Mediterranean, often between Libya and Sicily, to reach the European Union.

Twenty-nine migrants died of hypothermia aboard Italian coast guard vessels on Monday after being picked up from a boat adrift near Libya, reigniting criticism of the government's decision to end a full-scale search-and rescue mission last year. Two patrol boats picked up 105 people late on Sunday from an inflatable boat drifting in extreme sea conditions, with waves as high as 8 metres (26 feet) and temperatures just a few degrees above zero, the coast guard said in a statement. The migrants who died spent 18 hours on the deck of one of the vessels taking them to the Italian island of Lampedusa, buffeted by high winds and spray. One survivor was taken by helicopter to Sicily in critical condition, Pietro Bartolo, Lampedusa's chief healthcare official, told Reuters.

11 confirmed dead, confusion remains over number of missing; investigators fear they will find bodies on board. Tug boats hauled the burnt-out hulk of the ferry that caught fire on Sunday off the coast of Greece to a southern Italian port on Friday, opening the way for an investigation into the cause of the blaze that killed at least 11 people. Listing visibly to starboard, the Norman Atlantic multi-deck car-and-truck ferry was held outside the port of Brindisi as officials decided where it should be moored. The fire broke out on one of the lower garage levels and left the vessel drifting without power in stormy seas. It took Greek and Italian rescue teams 36 hours to evacuate 477 passengers and crew from the ship amid strong winds.

Two Albanian seamen were killed during an operation to salvage a multideck car ferry that caught fire off Greece's Adriatic Coast when a cable connecting their boat to the ferry snapped and hit them, an Albanian port authority official said on Tuesday. The deaths add to a toll of 10 confirmed victims of the disaster, but there was continuing uncertainty over how many might still be unaccounted for on the smouldering hulk of the Norman Atlantic. More than 400 people airlifted from the vessel in a 36-hour rescue operation by Italian and Greek helicopters. The aftermath of the rescue has been marked by confusion over the number of victims, with dozens of names on the ship's manifest unaccounted for and no clarity over whether they had drowned or were not on board in the first place.

Rescue teams on Monday completed the evacuation of 427 people from a car ferry that caught fire off Greece's Adriatic coast, working through the night and defying high seas and freezing weather in a 36-hour drama. Eight people were killed in the incident and many others could be missing, prompting Italian authorities to continue an air search of the sea around the vessel while they sought to verify the number of passengers who had been on board. The fire broke out on a vehicle deck of the Norman Atlantic ferry…

Fire started in early hours of Sunday; rescue efforts hampered by bad weather. Five people were confirmed to have died in car ferry that caught fire off the coast of Greece and rescue teams were working to save another 22 still stranded on board more than 24 hours after the blaze started. As some of the rescued passengers arrived in Italy, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told reporters that four more bodies had been recovered. One man was reported dead on Sunday. Renzi, speaking at a year-end media conference in Rome, said that rescue efforts should be completed within a "few hours" and praised the work of rescuers, who had helped avoid a "massacre". The Norman Atlantic was carrying 478 passengers and crew and more than 200 vehicles.

The European Union plans to launch a mission to help Italy cope with swarms of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa, the EU said on Tuesday. Called Operation Triton, the mission will be managed by Europe's border control agency, Frontex. It will reinforce Italy's own rescue operation, Mare Nostrum, which began after 366 people drowned just a mile from the Italian island of Lampedusa when their boat capsized a year ago. Italy has repeatedly called for more help from the EU to cope with the record number of sea-borne arrivals from conflict-torn Libya and Syria over the past year. Mare Nostrum, or "Our Sea," has been costing Italy 9 million euros a month, straining the resources of its navy and coastguard.

At least 25 migrants die during weekend Mediterranean crossings; Italy says has rescued almost 4,000 in last 48 hours. Italy's search and rescue services have found six more bodies in the Mediterranean to add to the death toll of 19 over the weekend, the navy said on Monday, with no let-up in the record numbers risking the perilous crossing to Europe from Africa. The navy said it had rescued almost 4,000 migrants over the weekend and Italian vessels were continuing to look for victims of a boat which capsized north of the Libyan coast on Sunday evening. The names and nationalities of the casualties were not released. Record high number of migrants by sea to Italy this year are putting enormous pressure on the Italian coast guard and navy.

Italian oil and gas group Eni said it signed a deal to explore for hydrocarbons in the Republic of Congo's coastal basin, expanding its foothold in sub-Saharan Africa's No. 4 oil producer. At a signing ceremony in capital Brazzaville, new Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi signed the deal for onshore and deep-water exploration acreage with Energy Minister Andre Raphael Loemba, the company said in a statement on Sunday. Eni could not immediately be reached to provide any further details. The Italian oil major, which has been active in Congo since 1968, said in February it had discovered fields with estimated reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil and 30 billion cubic metres of gas in Congo's Marine VII offshore block.

Italy's search and rescue mission saved more than 1,700 migrants in the Mediterranean in the past three days and found one person dead on a half-submerged raft, the navy said on Tuesday. This year's calmer summer weather has seen record numbers of people attempt to cross the sea from North Africa to Italy, often on packed boats and leaking rafts. Many are fleeing poverty, war and military conscription. Italy's "Mare Nostrum" or "Our Sea" mission rescued more than 1,500 people in the Strait of Sicily between Saturday and Monday and more than 200 more from three rafts on Monday night…

Migrants arriving on boats in southern Italy say 81 other people travelling with them have died or gone missing during their sea journeys from north Africa, the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday. A group of 27 migrants picked up on Tuesday by Italy's naval rescue mission and brought to the town of Catania said there had been 75 other people on their boat, who were feared drowned, the UNHCR said in a statement. Other migrants arriving in Sicily's Porto Empedocle said two of the party they travelled with had died and four had disappeared. Authorities said the death toll on another packed fishing boat, discovered by an Italian rescue mission on Monday, had reached 45. The victims are believed to have suffocated.