Brussels, 05/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, made a surprise visit to Brussels on Thursday 5 January, probably a private visit. European officials working for the presidents of the European Commission and European Council said that no last-minute meetings had been booked. The European Commission reported by email that no meetings had been arranged between Monti and Barroso or Monti and Rehn on Thursday or Friday.
Mario Monti will be in Paris on Friday to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of the European Council on 30 January. Next Wednesday, he will be in Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and he will travel to London at the end of January for talks with his British counterpart, David Cameron. Italy wants the focus of the new intergovernmental budget treaty being negotiated by 26 of the member states to be on growth and competitiveness rather than tighter public debt reduction rules than those set out in the updated Stability and Growth Pact (see EUROPE 10523). (MB/transl.fl)