Luxembourg, 02/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - Italy is proactively consulting its European partners in order to have economic growth and jobs top of the EU's action agenda.
Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said on Friday 20 June after the meeting of EU28 finance ministers that the member states, European Commission and International Monetary Fund all agree that growth needs to be boosted. Padoan said the problem was not changing the stability and growth pact rules as such but using margins of manoeuvre to make the rules more effective in terms of economic growth.
The Italian minister is preparing to chair the Ecofin Council and is carrying out a tour of European capitals to consult with his colleagues on potential measures and tools to boost economic recovery, which remains weak in a raft of southern European countries, including Italy. The idea is to create a climate of confidence in preparation for detailed work throughout the year, explained Padoan, a former top economist at the OECD.
Padoan says that the best way of tackling Italy's constant problem of high public debt is to get higher economic growth. He referred to an IMF report on the eurozone that recommends simpler budget rules in the EU that focus on debt reduction (see separate article).
Italy's diplomatic offensive is boosted by the ruling PD party's success in the European elections and is backed by France. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin asked what could be done to boost growth and to endure deficit reduction is done in a way that boosts growth. The day before, Sapin talked about investment in big infrastructure projects and the digital economy, along with “solidarity action” among eurozone countries whereby countries in surplus launch investment programmes and countries in deficit reduce their public deficit and reform their economies to become competitive. He said it would not take very long at all to sort out the EU's future priorities.
The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, may circulate a document at the summit next week on the need to re-focus the EU's priorities now that a new European Commission will be taking office. Social Democrat heads of government will meet in Paris on 21 June to discuss this question (see separate article).
Another hypothesis raised in Luxembourg was for formal growth talks to be held at the first Ecofin Council under the Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU in early July. (MB)