Italy's nationalist CasaPound movement launches transformation into political party (2)

"The march was expertly choreographed," said Caterina Froio, a researcher with the European University Institute in Tuscany, who is part of a research team working on a book about CasaPound. "It was everything from the way marchers were organized to the signs and flags handed out, to the discipline during the march. It was almost theatrical."

Iannone and other officials Saturday railed against many of the most popular issues used by European populist movements: burgeoning government debt, corrupt officials, high salaries and pensions for government officials, the influence of the media, foreign ownership of national companies, and the economic crisis gripping the country.
"At long last, there is a group that speaks for the concerns of or regular people," said Alessandro Fornini, a 28-year-old metal worker attending his first CasaPound rally.

Store clerk Anna Maria Scutaro, 31, agreed: "I am tired of popular leaders who only want to put money in their pockets," she said.

The economic crisis that has progressively tightened its grip on Italy in recent years is key to the group's appeal.
A year ago, Italy was on the brink of falling victim to the European debt crisis, with credit ratings agencies downgrading the creditworthiness of many big Italian companies and the government itself.

Long-term government bond yields surged past the 7-percent threshold that has sent Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and Spain seeking bailouts. The stock market was plummeting, and consumer confidence reached record lows.

The crisis sparked the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was replaced by an appointed technocrat government led by former European Commissioner Mario Monti.

It was Monti who has pushed through difficult austerity measures that have helped reduce the risk of a credit default and dramatically lowering the country's borrowing costs. But it has been a painful process for many Italians, who feel the crush of rising taxes and reduced government services. It's a kind of discontent CasaPound has tapped into.

"More than anything else, the protagonist of (Saturday's) demonstration was the economic crisis," said Georgia Belli, another of the researchers from the European University Institute.

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