Brussels, 26/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - At the Business Summit on Thursday 26 April (see EUROPE 10602), the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, joined forces with other leaders calling for growth stimulation measures, saying he approved of the way people were calling for growth stimulation measures. Monti said that a strategic framework needs to be introduced rapidly at EU level to encourage economic growth without jeopardising budget discipline.
Monti explained that supply needed to be boosted and public investment was not necessarily worse than domestic consumption. He called for public investment to be dealt with in the most appropriate manner on countries' balance sheets. He said the single market needed to be concluded and give the EIB greater capital so it can encourage investment in infrastructure. This all needs to be discussed openly in order to boost budget discipline and ensure it is affordable in the long run, because it will be being applied in a period of economic growth. Monti said that Italy is taking action to ensure it meets its budget targets by making the labour market more flexible, liberalising services and speeding up investment in infrastructure projects.
At the Business Forum, the Belgian prime minister, Elio di Rupo, echoed the comments by the ECB head, Mario Draghi, the day before, calling for a European growth pact. The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said the question of growth had never been absent from the concerns of Europe's leaders, but there was no magic wand to be waved and structural reforms take time to bear fruit and impact on growth and jobs. (MB/transl.fl)