Brussels, 24/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Facts, figures and dates. On Monday 24 October, the European Commission said that the Italian government must come forward with a raft of detailed measures to make the country more competitive, along with facts, figures and dates for ensuring economic recovery, cutting public spending and making better use of available EU funding, explained a spokesperson for EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, pointing out that the eurozone's third biggest economy (after Germany and France) had seen lower than eurozone average growth after the 2008 financial crisis. Measures are expected in all areas that can boost growth, including labour market reforms and the legal system.
Europe is concerned about whether the Italian government is capable of implementing the reforms it pushed through after the summer break in response to tension on the debt market about the level of public debt in Spain and Italy. There are also questions about the country's strategy for reducing debt. In 2011 and 2012, growth is not expected to reach 1%, and at nearly €2,000,000,000, Italy's public debt stands at 120% of GDP.
Rome may decide to unveil new measures ahead of the special summit on Wednesday 26 October and under relentless pressure from other countries, Berlusconi said after the eurozone summit on Sunday that he was considering increasing the retirement age to 67 without changing the actual pension amount (see EUROPE 10480). A special meeting of the Italian cabinet was held on Monday evening. The possibility of being frog-marched into reforms is meeting with resistance from the Lega Nord party (a member of the coalition government). (MB/transl.fl)