Brussels, 13/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - “Europe needs a strong and stable Italy” and the elections in 2013 in Italy must be neither a break with nor an excuse to slow down the rate of reform and consolidation of its budget, said José Manuel Barroso, European Commission President, speaking on Thursday 13 December during a joint press conference shortly before the European Council opened. This followed his meeting with the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, who has resigned from office. Monti sought to be reassuring saying that the government formed after the elections, whatever government that may be, will continue to support European integration, which is in Italy's national interest. In answer to a journalist who asked whether he planned to present his candidature to lead the future Italian government, he did, however, say “no comment - this is neither the time nor the moment”.
Monti is, however, solicited on every side - and especially by various European leaders, including Angela Merkel and by the EPP as a whole, which has made him its official candidate and which held its pre-summit meeting this Thursday, a meeting also attended by Silvio Berlusconi. The latter is himself a potential candidate and his party caused the fall of the current prime minister, although he has now said that he would be willing to “step back” if the “Professore” were to enter the race.
Barroso has said that he held an exchange of views with Berlusconi on that subject only yesterday. The Commission president told one journalist present (our translation throughout): “I repeated to him how important it was to have a stable Italy that moves forward along the road to reform. It is crucial for Italy and crucial for Europe”.
The two leaders expressed their pleasure at the Eurogroup agreement reached on banking union. Barroso commented that the European Central Bank now has powers comparable with those of the Federal Reserve in the United States. Another point tackled was the progress made on the Commission's “blueprint”, which recognises the role of productive public investment and which expresses “an ambitious vision in which we see ourselves”. (FG/transl.jl)
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