This Can’t Be Good for Your Reputation

In my months in Europe, I’ve heard a lot of smack talking about the EU. It wasn’t so bad in Brussels. But now that I live in London, it has quadrupled. When one of my friends said, “Yeah, I think Europe is a great idea. I’d love to be European” I almost fell down and died from shock. The EU gets such a bad rap in Britain, especially, as a wasteful and bureaucratic organization.

But stories like this aren’t going to help rehabilitate that image. Calabria, a province in Italy’s poorer southern region, is looking to use EU development funds to help promote its soccer team citing, “it can help raise the profile of their area, both within Italy and overseas.” According to one website promoting Italian tourism, Calabria is currently "little-respected by other Italians and little-known to tourists." They expect it’ll cost €1.8 million over three years. I’ve heard of soccer doing a lot of things, but developing a nation isn’t one of them.

Oh and by the way, Calarbia just happens to be home to “the N'Drangheta, one of Italy's most powerful and violent mafia organizations.” Coincidence?