"We are no longer in 2012, the most acute moment of the euro crisis": now "the euro is stronger" due to the great progress made in integration and "Italy is stronger and more resilient because it is making reforms and grow again". Thus spoke the Minister of Economy, Pier Carlo Padoan, in his briefing to the Senate on the Greek situation, during which, moreover, he announced that the Eurogroup would meet on Saturday 11 July.
Between Athens and Brussels “negotiations are underway – he added -, we need to work for a shared solution based on mutual trust. Italy has always worked to favor an agreement", even if there has been "on the creditor front a progressive stiffening by the majority of countries" and "on the Greek front an often disheartening behavior has been maintained", given the " recurrence of often inconclusive meetings” which “wasted a lot of time”.
The minister then recalled that so far our country has contributed to aid programs for Greece with "35,9 billion euros, which weigh on the debt in terms of 2,3% points of GDP, which have already been accounted for".
Padoan then underlined that, in addition to the "building site" to find a solution to the Greek crisis, in the EU it is necessary to "open another building site, one that has growth as its objective", because "austerity is a false problem: the demand it is not a yes or no to austerity, but how to put growth and jobs objectives into practice. It is a context in which a window opens which risks being smaller and shorter than one might expect”.
