“For Monti and also for us it is necessary work to reduce public debt. Now the Premier is examining all the proposals on the table and will launch a plan from September". These are the words of Pier Ferdinando Casini, leader of the UDC, at the end of summit at Palazzo Chigi with the Prime Minister. Today was the first of a series of meetings between the Professor and the number one of the majority. In the afternoon the appointment is with the secretary of the PDL, Angelino Alfano.
It's not just debt relief on the table. “Every effort must be made to get back on the road to growth – says Casini again -, because too high unemployment is Italy's real problem. We have done our homework, now Europe is hypothesizing new ways to stabilize the euro, we have done things right without wasting time”. In any case, the priority remains "to reduce public debt without dream numbers or mind-boggling figures: we must be realistic". A reference to the plan already presented by Alfano? Casini does not attack openly, he suggests: "I'm just saying that I read about unrealistic measures".
The centrist leader assures that Monti “is still taking stock of the proposals. We too presented him with our elements of reflection”.
as to spending reviews, dopo the decree that the Chamber converted into law just yesterday, the Executive would already be thinking about phase two. According to Casini, the Professor intends to launch the second installment of public spending cuts by September: "There is already a very detailed plan". But for details it is still too early.
In short, according to the number one of the UDC, the Premier is dealing exclusively with the new interventions to be put in place after the summer break, without any fear for the holding of the majority. “He's not worried about anything. It's serene, very serene." Yesterday, however, there was a clash, and how. Relations between Palazzo Chigi and the pidiellini were disturbed by some words by Monti in an interview with the Wall Street journal: "If the previous government were still in office - said the Professor -, now the Italian spread would be 1200 or something similar".
Lese majesty for the Berlusconi, little more than the obvious for Casini: “Monti has respect for political parties, the premier's respect for Berlusconi is out of the question. The problem is that he told the truth: if we had still had Berlusconi we would be in Greece's conditions. I don't know if the spread would have been 1200 or 1300, but Monti certainly avoided a catastrophic situation”.
