Italy is not a federal republic like Germany, nor is it a unitary, centralised republic like Portugal or Ireland.
Less regionalised than Spain but more than France, its institutional set-up is based on a complex patchwork of regions, autonomous regions, and autonomous provinces.
"Italy reminds me of the Holy Roman Empire," a businessman working between Milan and Munich told EUobserver. And he found it incredible that local regulations varying from region to region overlap with I...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.