Brussels, 03/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso calls for national leaders to take a responsible attitude to maintain political stability in Europe and avoid the emergence of turbulence that could extend the crisis in the eurozone.
Barroso told a group of reporters on Wednesday that in his State of the Union speech, he had said that there were green shoots of recovery, but also downside risks, and the biggest risks were political. He said there are countries that are creating political problems in terms of perception, stability and lack of determination.
At the same time, in Rome, the fall of the Letta government was narrowly avoided following a stunt by the leader of “Il Popolo della Libertà” party, Silvio Berlusconi. To prevent his movement collapsing and ending up in political isolation, Berlusconi finally rallied to the position of senators in his party prepared to vote for the Letta government in a vote of confidence, a vote which the Italian prime minister finally won (see EUROPE 10934).
Barroso said it was very positive that the Italian government was able to pursue its reforms without interruption and said that Italy must now ensure that its public deficit does not become excessive under the Stability and Growth Pact rules and must rapidly submit a draft budget for 2014 to strike a balance between public finance consolidation and measures to promote growth. The Letta government expects growth in 2014 to be 1% of GDP.
As a vice-president of the European People's Party (of which Berlusconi's party is a member), Barroso used his party's influence to make Italy's leaders consider how their actions would impact on Europe. He said he'd spoken with Berlusconi, explaining his concerns and had also spoken with the prime minister of Italy, Enrico Letta, and its president, Giorgio Napolitano. Barroso said he felt it was his duty as president of the Commission to draw politicians' attention to the consequences for Europe of the decisions they take in their home countries. He brushed aside any idea of this amounting to interference in the political life of member states, saying he was concerned about the cost of various political declarations, which could impact on the economics of other countries in a context of volatile markets and massive interdependence, particularly in the eurozone. (MB/transl.fl)