Does anyone know how Europe in general, and Italy in particular, is feeling about the whole Eliot Spitzer mess? (For those who don't know, NY Gov. Spitzer was tied to a prostitution ring where apparently he was a repeat customer. He just announced his resignation and will be stepping down on Monday.))

Would a similar mess have unseated an Italian politician?

Well it is funny - I just talked to my friend Grazia in Umbria about it this morning. Her comment was on the line of " This American ...If they only knew what Italian politicians are up to this is nothing "....

There was a political scandal in Italy a few months back : Cosimo Mele his party was the Union of Christian Democrats - pro family value and against the 'leftist' legalization of marjuana. He also advocated drug tests for parliamentarians. Mele, father of 3 and with a pregnant wife at home was caught at a hotel in Rome with a prostitute who had overdosed on cocaine. Forced by her friend to call an ambulance the case became public.
He had to resign from his party.

Does anyone know how Europe in general, and Italy in particular, is feeling about the whole Eliot Spitzer mess? (For those who don't know, NY Gov. Spitzer was tied to a prostitution ring where apparently he was a repeat customer. He just announced his resignation and will be stepping down on Monday.))

Would a similar mess have unseated an Italian politician?
This is a bit off subject but, when the U.S. was deciding whether to go to war with Iraq, my best friend in Italy said, "Yeah, we miss the days when we used to laugh about the 'huge scandal' with your president and Monica Lewinsky."

Somebody in high places has to be allowing things like this to go on in Italy.

More than 8,000 Albanian girls are prostituted in Italy, and more than 30% of them are under 18 years, stressed participants of a seminar in Tirana, Albania on the international traffic of women and children. The main reason for this trafficking is the economic inequality between richer countries and the poverty in Albania. The speakers asked governments and politicians to take measures to ensure that human rights are respected. (G.J. Koja, "8000 Albanian Girls Work as Prostitutes in Italy," HURINet – The Human Rights Information Network, 2

In Milan, Italy, 80% of street prostitutes are foreigners (Brussa, 1995, p.49) ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characteristic, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women.

There are 19,000-25,000 foreign prostitutes in Italy. Approximately 2,000 have been trafficked. (Migrant Information Programme, "Trafficking in Women for Sexual Exploitation to Italy," IOM,

The victims of trafficking are between age 17-20, with some as young as 14. (Migrant Information Programme, "Trafficking in Women for Sexual Exploitation to Italy," IOM,

This is just a small sample of what's going on in Italy.

ok Villa...
this is what is happening all over the world...

prostitution is name the oldest job of the world...
the problem are not the prostitute the problem is the wystem that keep them poor and undefendable... Untill the prostitute will be a legal job, why not?, they will allways need a protection so they will be sexual slaves...

What about Spitzer? He is stupid that's all... and is right he will fell...
How can you be so "ipocrita"? He should do like Mele in Italy, and go to her wife and apologize to her and his family in public....

I don't disagree if someone like extreme sex.... it's his businness
it's just how can you be so "ipocrita"