Corriere della Sera

During the previous lesson we read an article about policy and economy in Italy, from the newspaper Corriere della Sera of the 29^th of September 2011.

The text type is a letter; it is very different from the other texts, because when you write a letter, you have to consider the addressee. In this case it is a formal letter written by Jean Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank and Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy; for this reason at the beginning the text records two places: Frankfurt and Rome, because Trichet writes from Frankfurt while Draghi from Italy.

The letter starts with the salutation Dear Prime Minister; as a matter of fact it is addressed to Silvio Berlusconi.

The first paragraph has the function to introduce the reasons why they write a letter, it contains background information of the 4^th of August. In this day the Governing Council has expressed that Italy needs to restore the confidence of investors and this one is the thesis of the text.

So the first section of the letter is meant to introduce the problem that dealt with in the letter with reference to the economic background up to the 5^th of August: the decision to pursue a balanced budget by 2014 with structural reforms and sustainable fiscal condition. The senders affirmed all this things in a simple way, going straight in the point.

The remaining part of the letter is addressed to explain the three urgent needs and to provide the Italian minister with specific measure suggestion to be taken. So the list with number has the function to introduce some needs, while the list with letter has the function to explain ways to resolve these needs.

The first need is to take significant measures to enhance potential growth, the second one is to take measures to ensure the sustainability of public finances and the last one is to take measures to ensure a major overhaul of the public administration.

The conclusion reported by the senders is that they believe in the Government, that will able to take all the appropriate actions.