For the countries most in difficulty in the eurozone it is "necessary to cut spending without killing the economy". He declares it in a telephone interview with the Portuguese newspaper Diario Economico, the former premier Romano Prodi. Durao Barroso's predecessor at the helm of the European Commission says that peripheral states suffering from the debt crisis must be "very selective in their cuts" in order not to crush the economy.
According to Prodi there is no possibility that Greece, Ireland and Portugal will leave the euro zone. It is not a rational forecast and it is not in the interest of the countries involved. “Some mistakes are always possible but neither Greece, nor Germany, nor Portugal nor Ireland have any interest in abandoning the euro. Germany never had a trade surplus when there was no euro, and now, with the euro, it is better off.” However, the risks remain. If adjustments in Greece or in other countries were unattainable, turmoil and political tensions should certainly be feared, but "no one has an interest in leaving the monetary union".
Prodi warns that without a change of government, it will be difficult for Greece to solve its problems. While admitting that he is not a specialist on Portugal, Romano Prodi believes that the country's flaws lie in the financial sector and in the public budget. “It's somewhere between Ireland and Greece. Portugal certainly does not find itself in the great tensions that are registered in the Greek country, but it needs a rigorous budgetary policy and for this reason there has been a change in the last elections. A new page has opened for Portugal.”
Economic Diary.pt
