Juncker, not only promises or unpleasant consequences – ANSA.it

Juncker, not only promises or unpleasant consequences – ANSA.it

BRUSSELS – The clash between hawks and doves in Europe is more alive than ever, with Germany adamant guardian of the rules and discipline of the budget so that the EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, criticized by the ‘hawks’ for giving credit in Italy and France, now tries to reassure ‘threatening’ Rome and Paris of “unpleasant consequences” if the reforms remain only promises. But the government is not afraid, and raises the ball in Brussels: Prime Minister Matteo Renzi explains that even the IMF asks growth to Europe, then “some question our EU partners will also begin to have it”, and the Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said that “the reforms we make them because they serve us and not because they tell others.”

The warning Juncker the two countries comes, not surprisingly, in an interview with the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in which the president seems to shift the emphasis on the point of view dear to the Germans, that compliance with the rules under penalty. If Italy and France did not proceed with the announced reforms will come “to a tightening of the procedure on the deficit”, and “if the words do not follow the facts, for these countries will not be pleasant,” said Juncker. The president, however, also defends the position expressed so far, that is, “to trust Italians and the French” because “governments have ensured that they will do what was announced.”

But the output of Luxembourg, in days away from a similar attack Merkel’s always against France and Italy, and in view of the European summit next week, raising fears a ‘repositioning’ of the Commission on a front stiffer. For Italy, it would be unacceptable: “If even the IMF, which is a section of the Communist Party in Washington, asks Europe to invest in growth, some question the EU partners will also begin to have it,” said the prime minister Matteo Renzi his collaborators after the meeting with the Director of the IMF Christine Lagarde. And the minister Padoan, that Juncker “says things that we already know and on which we are committed,” launches a dig towards Brussels sowing doubts about its investment plan launched by the President of the Commission: “It must be clarified in many areas, such example on the calendar, “because” need something before. “

In addition,” we need to clarify the principles and criteria by which the resources of the plan, including those by the Member, will be allocated to projects. ” Clarification that the Commission is committed to giving, ensures Vice President Jyrki Katainen after solicitation of Padoan. Meanwhile France responds to accusations with a very broad reform package, which under the name of ‘free, invest, work’, launches a series of measures ranging from the abolition of monopolies to the liberalization of the legal profession, the extension to more sectors Sunday work to market opening in transport. On the other hand the ECB Mario Draghi seems determined to start the purchase of government bonds so that it said in anticipation of the German weekly ‘die Zeit’, he telephoned the Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, to inform him.