Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

POLITICS

EU austerity is putting brakes on Italy’s economy: Renzi

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi insisted on Friday that the EU's budget rules should be interpreted flexibly and that austerity should not be seen purely as an end in itself.

Published: 29 January 2016 16:01 CET

EU austerity is putting brakes on Italy's economy: Renzi

Photo: John McDougall/AFP

Speaking at a joint news conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Renzi said: “I am of the belief that austerity doesn't work on its own and can actually lead to the collapse of governments.”

“We are not demanding a change in the rules for Italy. We are demanding that the rules be applied,” Renzi said.

“Flexibility was a promise” made by European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, the Italian government chief said.

“And I don't think he has changed his mind.”

Renzi argues that budgetary austerity in Europe is putting the brakes on economic growth in his country and has clashed with Juncker on the matter.

“I don't know whether we share the same opinion on this,” Renzi continued, in comments directed at Merkel.

“But we say these things with a smile and we share the same ideals” such as fighting unemployment as a way of stemming a rise in populism.

Merkel, for her part, praised the economic reforms Renzi has implemented so far – such as those on the labour market – describing them as an “important contribution for Italy and for Europe.”

Regarding budgetary discipline, Merkel said that “there can always be different interpretations,” and said it was ultimately up to Brussels to decide whether Italy was adhering to its commitments laid down by EU treaties.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Italian PM Meloni to stand in EU Parliament elections

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-Fascist roots, came top in Italy’s 2022 general election with 26 percent of the vote.

It is polling at similar levels ahead of the European elections on from June 6-9.

With Meloni heading the list of candidates, Brothers of Italy could exploit its national popularity at the EU level, even though EU rules require that any winner already holding a ministerial position must immediately resign from the EU assembly.

“We want to do in Europe exactly what we did in Italy on September 25, 2022 — creating a majority that brings together the forces of the right to finally send the left into opposition, even in Europe!” Meloni told a party event in the Adriatic city of Pescara.

In a fiery, sweeping speech touching briefly on issues from surrogacy and Ramadan to artificial meat, Meloni extolled her coalition government’s one-and-a-half years in power and what she said were its efforts to combat illegal immigration, protect families and defend Christian values.

After speaking for over an hour in the combative tone reminiscent of her election campaigns, Meloni said she had decided to run for a seat in the European Parliament.

READ ALSO: How much control does Giorgia Meloni’s government have over Italian media?

“I’m doing it because I want to ask Italians if they are satisfied with the work we are doing in Italy and that we’re doing in Europe,” she said, suggesting that only she could unite Europe’s conservatives.

“I’m doing it because in addition to being president of Brothers of Italy I’m also the leader of the European conservatives who want to have a decisive role in changing the course of European politics,” she added.

In her rise to power, Meloni, as head of Brothers of Italy, often railed against the European Union, “LGBT lobbies” and what she has called the politically correct rhetoric of the left, appealing to many voters with her straight talk.

“I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am a Christian” she famously declared at a 2019 rally.

She used a similar tone Sunday, instructing voters to simply write “Giorgia” on their ballots.

“I have always been, I am, and will always be proud of being an ordinary person,” she shouted.

EU rules require that “newly elected MEP credentials undergo verification to ascertain that they do not hold an office that is incompatible with being a Member of the European Parliament,” including being a government minister.

READ ALSO: Why is Italy’s government being accused of helping tax dodgers?

The strategy has been used before, most recently in Italy in 2019 by Meloni’s deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, who leads the far-right Lega party.

The EU Parliament elections do not provide for alliances within Italy’s parties, meaning that Brothers of Italy will be in direct competition with its coalition partners Lega and Forza Italia, founded by Silvio Berlusconi.

The Lega and Forza Italia are polling at about seven percent and eight percent, respectively.

Url copied to clipboard!