Berlusconi in conversation with his people, Bersani on the phone with Napolitano. It's a hot afternoon for Italian politics, grappling with one of the most dramatic days since the onset of the financial crisis. While all the European Stock Exchanges collapse, Milan wears the black jersey once again, coming to lose more than 7%. Meanwhile the spread flies beyond the limits of the imaginable and every hour it sets a new record. The last registered was at 455 basis points.
Faced with this disastrous scenario, Palazzo Chigi intervenes with a note specifying that the premier “follows the evolution of the financial markets” keeping in close contact “with the undersecretary of the Prime Minister, Gianni Letta, and with the minister of the Economy, Giulio Tremonti”.
“There is no doubt – continues the note – that the Greek decision to hold a referendum on the bailout plan heavily influences the negative trend in trade prepared by the European Union. It is an unexpected choice that triggers uncertainties after the recent European Council and on the eve of the important G-20 meeting in Cannes”.
President Berlusconi, “in collaboration with some ministers of the economic sector, is fine-tuning the effectiveness of the measures of the European agenda agreed with Brussels, which will be illustrated to the G-20 partners. The government's choices will be applied with the awareness, rigor and timeliness imposed by the situation".
Other clarifications concern some press rumors circulated in the last few hours: the Knight “never said – reads another note from Palazzo Chigi – which counts on the support of Russia and President Putin to resolve the global financial crisis. The rumor of confidential talks between the Prime Minister, Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy after last Wednesday's European Council is also groundless. The reconstructions that appeared in some newspapers regarding imaginative and far-fetched plans for changes at the top of the Ministry of the Economy are devoid of any and all foundations”.
Meanwhile, the secretary of the Pd, Pierluigi Bersani, had a telephone conversation with the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano. The leader of the Democrats he expressed to the Head of State the willingness of the Democratic Party and the opposition forces to take on the necessary responsibilities in the face of the worsening of the Italian financial crisis. For his part, Napolitano would have underlined the strong concern for the situation in these hours.
Bersani also spoke with the group leaders of the Chamber and Senate, Dario Franceschini and Anna Finocchiaro, the deputy secretary of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta and the president of the national assembly, Rosy Bindi. With them decided to call a meeting for tomorrow in Rome on the evolution of the crisis.
