The use of social media in politics becomes a major player in building consensus. The new technologies have deeply affected the working methods of diplomats and their communication style, says H.E. Stefano Baldi, Ambassador of Italy in Bulgaria, in an interview to Europost.

Italy has renewed a controversial agreement signed in 2017 with Libya to block illegal migrants trying to leave from the North African country's coast, news wires reported. Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio told parliament on Wednesday that the 2017 deal with Libya would be automatically extended for another three years from November.

Italy's far-right opposition leader Matteo Salvini has scored a historic victory in the first electoral test since losing his government job in August, news wires reported. In Umbria's regional election, held on Sunday, Donatella Tesei, the candidate backed by a Salvini-led coalition, won 57.55% of the vote, the final results show.

The Italian government agreed on Tuesday that tax evasion over €100,000 could lead to prison terms of up to eight years, ANSA reported. Setting jail terms for big tax dodgers in the 2020 budget is a "cultural crux" for the ruling anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), M5S leader and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said.

The European Commission fears next year’s draft budgets for France and Italy could be in breach of European Union fiscal rules and it asked for clarification by Wednesday in letters sent to the countries’ finance ministers, news wires reported. The EU executive has also issued budget warnings to Finland over its spending, and to Spain, Portugal and Belgium who have submitted incomplete budget plans because of recent elections.

The EU needs looser budgetary policies and an overhaul of its fiscal rulebook, Paolo Gentiloni, who is going to become the bloc’s new economic affairs commissioner said in an article published on Sunday. In Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore he said that while the EU’s deficit and debt rules must not be ignored, they needed to be “reviewed and updated”. “It’s time for countries which have fiscal space to use it, in an overall context of less restrictive budgetary policies,” Gentiloni, due to replace Pierre Moscovici as economic and financial affairs commissioner, said.

Italy approved a new tax on digital companies as part of its 2020 draft budget on Wednesday, and plans to introduce the new measure from next year. The levy will oblige web-based giants to pay a 3% levy on internet transactions, according to the text of the draft budget. The scheme is expected to yield around €600 million each year, as Italy scrambles to find alternative revenues that will allow it to avoid a scheduled increase in sales tax.

The scenography is something that inspires me most, and it poses the most challenges to me as well, Italian artist Guido Bonacci says in an interview to Europost.

The Italian Lower house on Tuesday voted to cut Italy's parliamentarians from 945 to 600, by 553 votes to 14 with two abstentions, ANSA reported. The bill becomes law after almost 30 years of broken promises. The constitutional reform cuts MPs from 630 to 400 and Senators from 315 to 200.

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo started from Italy on Tuesday a four-nation tour in Europe as the push to impeach President Donald Trump gains steam at home, news wires reported.