Talking about Italy, Eurogroup President Mario Centeno expressed his empathy and said “I understand and share Italy’s concerns about sluggish growth and complex social issues”. However, he also emphasized that “this can be achieved without placing a trajectory of fiscal consolidation at risk.”
He also emphasized that adhering to fiscal rules is “not only in each country’s individual interest, but also in our collective interest”. He pointed to the Eurozone debt crisis and said it “has taught us that in an economic and monetary union, the responsibility to conduct sound and responsible policy does not stop at national borders.”
Regarding the Franco-German proposal of Eurozone budget, he said “a common fiscal capacity should not discharge countries from their obligation to conduct sound fiscal policies and respect the fiscal rules.” On the other hand, Eurozone statement would be better on reacting to asymmetric shocks, without overburdening the ECB.
Separately, ECB Governing council member Ewald Nowotny said Italy is not “an immediate threat” but rather a “political problem”. However, “in the longer term there is the question of whether I have enough trust on the capital markets.”
