Perhaps there is hope yet for Italy as its new prime minister used eBay to auction off a fleet of executive cars.
Maseratis, Alfa Romeos, Lancias are among the Alfas, Jaguars, BMWs which had been assigned to various ministers and officials in departments, such as justice, interior and defence.
The move from Matteo Renzi comes as part of his promise to cut government waste. The use of eBay was designed to show the new regime’s transparency.
Everyday citizens, still struggling with the ravages of recession, approve the effort because they resent the luxuries that ministers have afforded themselves.
The cost of keeping these 151 cards on the road (petrol, chauffeur, tax and insurance) is estimated to be about €10.5 million each year.
A special section on eBay is devoted to the government’s 151 used cars on offer.
Italians were quick to put in bids for the cars, even though many of them have clocked up 125,000 miles or so. By Friday there had been nearly 90 bids for an Alfa 166 and 75 for a BMW 525D.
The auction will close on 16 April.
The sale of the cars, known in Italian as “auto blu”, was “particularly significant because of the change it represents in the relationship between government and citizens,” the Renzi administration said.
Italy is the third-largest economy in the eurozone but its economy has floundered in the last 20 years.
