Prime Minister Mario Monti collects important consensus in Finland and launches an assist for tomorrow for the homonymous Mario Draghi, president of the ECB, engaged in a very delicate head-to-head with the Bundesbank. Monti has no doubts: "I will closely follow what is being said in Frankfurt and see what will happen in the markets, but I think the statements of the president of the ECB last week are interesting, courageous and appropriate”.
So said the prime minister on the sidelines of the joint press conference in Helsinki with the Finnish premier Jyrki Katainen, from whom he received full support on issues concerning Europe. “I was particularly impressed – Monti said on Draghi – by the clarity with which Draghi explained that too high spreads between interest rates damage the transmission mechanisms of monetary policy, an argument that clearly falls within the mandate of the ECB”.
Monti had previously received the support of the Scandinavian prime minister. There was also talk of aid between the two, certainly not aimed at Italy but possibly at other countries in difficulty such as Spain, as the premier pointed out: "At the moment Italy does not seem to need any particular aid, certainly not for saving the economy, or for budgetary needs. Aid will perhaps be necessary due to the slowness with which the markets understand and recognize the efforts undertaken and the results achieved".
“I would say – Monti added – that what needs to be helped is the functioning of the government bond markets in the Eurozone and it is precisely this request for greater stability that emerged from the European summit at the end of June”. “We hope – he concluded in unison with his colleague Katainen – the implementation of tools with which spreads can be determined by the market in a way more consistent with economic policies. This could require decisions at European level in the terms mentioned by the European Council”.
