Eurozone finance ministers didn’t see any particular reason for concern following the referendum in Italy that lead the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, to resign.
Upon arrival at Eurogroup, Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, said there was no reason for a crisis in the eurozone. ‘If this is the market reaction, it doesn’t seem to require any emergency steps,’ commented the head of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
French finance minister Michel Sapin said the referendum was an internal Italian policy question, about reform of the Constitution rather than about Europe, European policy or Italy’s role in Europe. Commenting on the questions facing Italian banks, which could suffer from political instability, Sapin said this question existed before and it is something for which solutions can be provided, but this has nothing to do with the referendum result.
The Italian finance minister did not attend the Eurogroup meeting, remaining in Rome where the cabinet was due to resign, and the meeting did not discuss the situation in Italy. It will wait for the end of the political transition period, something the Italian president was due to decide upon later that day.
At the same time, it endorsed the European Commission’s assessment of the situation, suggesting that Italy might now be able to meet its budget objectives. ‘Additional measures are needed but given the political situation, it is impossible to ask the government to today to commit to these additional measures,’ explained Jeroen Dijsselbloem at a press conference. The German fiancé minister said he hoped the reforms would continue.
On the changes to the constitution proposed by Matteo Renzi, Jeroen Dijsselbloem commented: ‘Institutional reforms are important to have an efficient administration and a well-working political system is crucial if we want to modernise Europe. This is not only a topic for Italy, it is a topic in many member states.’ He added: ‘Any new government will have to look at the issue of the constitution and possible constitutional reform gain but not up to us to decide.’ (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)