Mario Monti and Angela Merkel had parted ways last Friday at the end of the European summit, hailed as an Italian triumph and a German defeat. Today the Italian premier and the German chancellor meet again in Rome. And the anti-spread mechanism snatched up by the Professor in Brussels will once again be at the center of the debate, because that political agreement (on the possibility of using the state-saving fund to support virtuous countries, such as Italy, on the way back to balanced in their public finances, but struggling on the markets to finance their debt) must now be translated into concrete facts.
Merkel arrives in Rome with some of her ministers. A press conference of her and Monti is scheduled for 16pm. In an interview with the Italian Prime Minister, published this morning by the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Monti reiterated his need for "a partial mutualisation of the debt" at European level.
