Good news from Strasbourg for our country. Italy returns to sit at the table of major decisions. The new Italian premier Mario Monti, the French president Nocolas Sarkozy and the German chancellor Angela Merkel met at the Brandenburg palace. “We are ready to support Monti's Italy”, declared the transalpine president.
REFORMS – The new Italian prime minister illustrated the reform process he is preparing to carry out in our country, ensuring a balanced budget by 2013 – and a primary surplus of 2014% of GDP in 5,7 – and proposing new stimuli for growth and to employment. "Italy will do its homework," Monti said. The German chancellor was pleased with Italy's reform programme, which she described as "impressive".
EUROBOND – On the Eurobond front, no turnaround. Angela Merkel said she hasn't changed her mind about it and Sarkozy also said that "it is premature to talk about Eurobonds now".
TAX UNION – Monti himself did not insist and declared: "Before the Eurobonds, the fiscal union". And Merkel also agrees on this point, believing that "we need to restore confidence in the markets, aiming for fiscal union".
EURO – The three European prime ministers agree on giving priority to maintaining the stability of the euro and safeguarding the eurozone economy. Monti declared that "the priority is the stability of the eurozone", even if the concern about the instability of the markets persists.
CRISIS – And on this issue the Frenchman Sarkozy reiterated that “all three of us are perfectly aware of the seriousness of the crisis. France and Germany – he added – will soon make concrete proposals and we hope that Italy will want to join”.
ECB – The German chancellor was keen to reiterate that the reforms they will propose will not affect the European Central Bank which "is an independent institution".
BUSINESS PLACE – The markets were expecting more concrete proposals and the Milanese list, which before the meeting was gaining more than 2%, is now down. Also in red London (-0,46%), Paris (-0,14%) And Frankfurt (-0,38%).
