Monti Warns of Italy Protests as He Meets With Merkel in Berlin
January 11, 2012, 8:55 AM ESTBy Tony Czuczka
(For more on Europe’s debt crisis, see EXT4.}
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti made a plea for more help before talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, warning that his austerity measures might trigger anti-European protests without signs of progress.
“I am demanding heavy sacrifices from Italians,” Monti was cited as saying in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt published today. “I can only do this if concrete advantages become visible.” If not, “a protest against Europe will develop in Italy, including against Germany, which is seen as the ringleader of EU intolerance, and against the European Central Bank.”
Monti, the unelected premier who has pushed through budget cuts demanded by the European Union after Silvio Berlusconi quit, is due to meet Merkel in Berlin for talks on stemming the debt crisis that began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain and France last year. The two leaders are due to hold a news conference at about 1 p.m. Berlin time.
The EU could help Italy with “a lowering of the interest rate,” Berlin-based Die Welt quoted Monti as saying. He didn’t elaborate, according to the interview. If EU policy doesn’t change, “Italy, which has always been a very Europe-friendly country, could throw itself into the arms of populists.”
Greek Debt Swap
European leaders are striving to tamp down the crisis on multiple fronts as they set the stage for an EU summit on Jan. 30 that’s meant to focus on bolstering jobs and growth in the region. Pressure is meanwhile growing to complete a Greek debt swap agreed by leaders in October that is needed to put a second rescue plan in place and keep the euro area together.
Merkel and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde discussed Greece and the euro-area debt crisis in Berlin late yesterday, said Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s chief spokesman. Lagarde is due to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris at about noon today.
Merkel and Sarkozy are scheduled to travel to Rome on Jan. 20 for joint talks with Monti, who heads the euro area’s third- largest economy. Both have expressed support for Monti’s effort to bring down Italy’s debt, the EU’s second-highest after Greece.
Germany and France can’t solve Europe’s problems alone, Monti was quoted as saying. “We are a strong, a proud country, and basically we have an effective economy,” he told Die Welt. “You know, I’ve always worked for an Italy that resembles Germany as much as possible.”
--Editors: Alan Crawford, Patrick Henry
To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Czuczka in Berlin at aczuczka@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net
