The control and monitoring mission of the European Union towards Italy will continue even if Silvio Berlusconi were to resign. He announced it Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehnat the press conference.
To those who asked whether the EU mission could be interrupted in the event of a new political scenario in Italy, Altafaj answered curtly: "No". This, he explained, "for at least three reasons: there was a specific request from Italy, Italy needs to restore credibility, and trust needs to be restored, because what is happening in Greece and Italy is not the result of EU concerns but of world concerns".
Altafaj then underlined that a stop to the monitoring of the European Union is not conceivable as "it is not a question of a political mission". Forward with the commitments undertaken, therefore. From Europe but above all from Italy. The Brussels executive asks our country for "clarity" on how it intends to implement the measures contained in the letter delivered to the EU by the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, on the occasion of the last European Council on 26 October.
"We ask Italy to know more about the measures contained in the letter, the maxi amendment and the impact that the promised reforms will have," said Altafaj. In this sense, he added, "we sent a questionnaire to Rome to clarify". This is a "normal" procedure, as "the letters are too short to contain in detail the explanation of how to proceed". In any case, he punctuated Olli Rehn's spokesman, "structural reforms are as important as fiscal ones, if not more".
However, Altafaj anticipated, these issues "will be discussed this afternoon (during the meeting of the Eurogroup, ed.) and we will ask Tremonti for information“. In recalling how the Greek and Italian situations are "profoundly different" and therefore "no comparison is possible", Altafaj then stressed how the control of Italy by the EU is not at all linked to the same activity of the Fund international monetary. “The European Union acts autonomously but parallel to the IMF”he concluded.
