“Yesterday I met Mario Draghi, I meet him often”. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi confirmed this today during the press conference at the Expo construction site, without however adding anything on the content of the meeting. The news had been released by the Corriere dell'Umbria, which had reported an appointment in Città della Pieve, where the number one of the ECB has a country residence. Renzi, according to the newspaper, would have arrived by helicopter at 9 and left at 11.30.
This afternoon the Prime Minister will return to Rome, where he could meet the Head of State, Giorgio Napolitano, to take stock of the reforms.
As for the Expo, Renzi reiterated that the inauguration "will be a great moment of pride for the country", as well as a sort of "no owl day": the five million tickets already sold demonstrate that "there is a huge hunger for Italy, of a country that can offer quality and beauty in many sectors”. The Expo, continued Renzi, "will be on 1 May 2015: I'm ready to bet that it will be one of the keys to restarting the country".
Then, a passage on the controversy triggered by the request of the New Centre-right to cancel article 18: “On the subject of work, we must avoid an ideological discussion – said the Premier -. We need jobs. Let's all rewrite the Workers' Statute together”.
Finally, Renzi spoke and explained that “from Palazzo Chigi EU funds have begun to be removed from the Regions that they do not spend and put on schools. In recent years Italy has spent EU funds worse than it could have and for this reason our government will try to change its model”.
