In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, the Minister of the Treasury, Pier Carlo Padoan, declared that growth and employment “cannot be just the goal of France and Italy. All Member States, including those in the North that have turned around the crisis faster, must share this vision”. "Member States - Padoan explained - have made budget adjustments and considerable efforts to restore their competitiveness, especially in the South." And he added: “These adjustments must continue. But we have to focus on growth and jobs and we have to be very concrete”.
Padoan lingered on the need for a majority to form in the forthcoming European elections “convinced that Europe is an opportunity and not a problem. The real challenge is this. This is why it is essential that Europe, which has responded to the crisis above all with the reduction of the deficit, now puts growth at the center of its policies”. So far, he concludes, "efforts in this area have been insufficient."
The minister is today in the British capital, where he has already met several representatives of the City at the Italian embassy. Planned for lunch a visit to the London Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, and in the evening, participation in the conference "The EU Economy after the Great Recession" at the London School of Economics.
