Prime Minister Mario Monti has promoted the creation of a round table within the European Council to elaborate concrete proposals to stimulate growth. A subject to be addressed even before the informal summit scheduled in Brussels for May 23rd. This was announced by the Premier himself, speaking today at the conference on the "State of the Union" organized in Florence by the European University Institute.
The topic of growth is also at the top of the agenda newly elected French president, François Hollande, who will meet this afternoon with the president of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy, and tomorrow with the president of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker.
On the political level, they are naturally at the center of the discussions Greece's troubles in creating a government that varies the structural reforms requested by Europe. A stalemate that has increased tension on the markets, fueling uncertainty about the future of the eurozone.
"There is turbulence" in Europe, continued Monti, underlining that after Hollande's victory "the debate in the next few days will be very intense". According to the Professor, Italy with its proposals could help "the European Council and the entire Union to quickly find a sustainable and healthy path to growth".
Monti then recalled the Government's commitment to maintaining “budgetary discipline. We have a goal agreed with the European Union, which is to achieve a balanced budget within the next year, before many European countries”.
The premier then reiterated the need to distinguish between current spending and investment spending when calculating the deficitbut with strict rules. “It is certainly delicate – Monti said -, we cannot leap into an adventurous position, in which we say that every expense classified as an investment is exempt or viewed with a favorable eye under the rules of Europe. No. Because it has been all too common for countries to cover losses of publicly owned companies and then record them as investments. We therefore need very strict criteria that distinguish eligible investments from this type of purpose, from non-eligible investments", recognizing that it is often "a difficult distinction to make and to put into practice".
About the demand incentives, Monti stressed that “we should never react to every new idea in an automatic way, but consider coldly and understand if this is a break with the orthodoxy of budget rigor. Our government is fully convinced of the virtue of fiscal consolidation."
