Brussels, 23/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - The defection of several Member States which Rome had hoped would be among the co-signatories of a letter condemning economic nationalism in some countries, has finally won the day over the initiative by Italian Economy and Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti (see EUROPE 9157). While some of his European counterparts supported the content of the message, all judged it ill-advised to jump in during the European Council to support a step which many think has more to do with internal political concerns in the run-up to legislative elections in Italy on 9 and 10 April. Following a meeting with the President of the Ecofin Council Karl-Heinz Grasser, Mr Tremonti backtracked and decided to delay his charges of a resurgence in protectionism in Europe, according to an Italian diplomat. He said, however, that the issue would be raised at the Ecofin Council in Vienna on 7 and 8 April, something the Austrian Presidency refused to confirm on Thursday. “At this point, there are no changes in the agenda for the informal Ecofin meeting” on which there is no mention of the issue, said Mr Grasser's spokesman.
Even though it agreed with the general tenor of the Italy's intended call to order, the United Kingdom, traditionally firmly opposed to protectionism, showed no inclination to support Rome. One possible reaction to globalisation would be to raise the drawbridge and lock oneself in, said British European Affairs Minister Douglas Alexander in an article published on Thursday in the French daily Le Figaro. Such a response, he felt, would be ill advised, because it is not possible to succeed in a globalised economy by turning in on oneself, he said. “The European Spring Council meets today and tomorrow with an agenda which, if it is properly implemented, will in the long term bring our citizens more and higher quality jobs,” continued Mr Alexander. He felt the EU had to move in the correct political and economic direction, and oppose protectionism.