Brussels once again points the finger at Italy, accusing it of not having done enough on the public debt front. Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for the Economy, claims that the Letta government's Stability Law should be reviewed on this point, but says he is ready to change his mind if Rome obtains concrete results on spending reviews and privatisations.
In an interview with La Repubblica, Rehn recalls that “Italy must respect a certain pace of debt reduction and it is not doing so. The structural effort should have been equal to half a point and of the GDP, instead it is only 0,1%": therefore our country "has no room for maneuver and he will not be able to invoke the flexibility clause for investments".
As for privatizations, “they will make a small contribution to improving the efficiency of the economic system and, perhaps, to partially reducing the debt as early as next year. There spending reviews it is very important, but it will be even more important if it manages to implement spending cuts that will take effect as early as 2014 – the European Commissioner explains -. Our February forecasts will be a very important appointment for Italy. If the Government provides us with concrete and satisfactory results by that date, we will take them into account to calculate the possible effects on the room for maneuver available to the country".
According to Rehn, Italy has “great potential for growth. If it really succeeds in reforming its economic and judicial systems, it could experience higher growth than many other nations. But your country is in dire need of relaunching its economy and competitiveness".
