Council-controlled firms 'must be slashed'

(ANSA) - Turin, September 17 - Premier Matteo Renzi on Wednesday said Italy needed to slash the number of firms controlled by local councils to 1,000. "The 8,000 council-controlled companies we have at the moment are too many," Renzi said. "We must reduce them to at least one-eighth of the current level. You have to see when they are necessary and when they are car parks for politicians who are no good any more". There have been several scandals sparked by criminal probes into council-owned companies, including high profile cases at Rome transport company ATAC and rubbish agency AMA.