Italy lacks credibility. That's the problem with her. This time to point the finger at the most macroscopic defect of our country is none other than Christine Lagarde, the director of the International Monetary Fund. “The problem on the table – said the French economist at the end of the G20 in Cannes – and which has been clearly identified both by the Italian authorities and their partners, is a lack of credibility of the measures that have been announced”.
On other tones Barack Obama, who from the same stage tries to reassure the world about Italy's conditions. “As Prime Minister Berlusconi's invitation to the International Monetary Fund certifies – underlines the American President -, the Italians intend to follow the plan proposed to the IMF on austerity measures. Italy is a large country with a huge industrial base, large wealth, large assets, which has had substantial debt for some time, and now the markets are feeling jittery. If you have a single currency but you haven't fixed institutional and fiscal coordination, this creates problems of vulnerability, but in the long term. In the short term, European leaders must send the signal to markets that they support the euro. If this message is sent I think this crisis will be overcome because there is a psychological element”.
Finally, the most authoritative voice, the collective one. The leaders of the G20 “they support the measures presented by Italy at the euro summit – reads the final communiqué of the Cannes summit – and the agreed and detailed evaluation and monitoring by the Commission”. Furthermore, "they welcome the Italian decision to invite the International Monetary Fund to carry out a public verification on the implementation of the reforms on a quarterly basis".
“The world economy has worsened since the last summit – continues the note – in particular that of the more advanced countries, leaving unacceptable levels of unemployment. In this context, tensions in the financial markets increased due to sovereign risks. There are also clear signs of a slowdown in emerging economies. The ups and downs in commodity prices have generated risks for growth. Global imbalances remain”.
"Today - concludes the document - we reaffirm our commitment to work together and have taken decisions to reinvigorate economic growth, create jobs, ensure financial stability, promote social inclusion, and put globalization at the service of people's needs".
