French newspaper Le Monde on
Friday reported that new Prime Minister Manuel Valls is angling
to ally with centre-left Italian Premier Matteo Renzi in an
effort to postpone budget targets.
Under the front page headline ''France, Italy: the
offensive of bad students against Europe'', the paper wrote that
France's conservative socialist premier - picked this week in a
major cabinet reshuffle after the ruling Socialist Party
suffered a crushing defeat in local elections across the country
- wants to position himself ''in the wake of the Italian
premier, Matteo Renzi, to postpone the reduction of the
deficit''.
The paper reports, however, that ''France is isolated in
its fight against partisans of (financial) rigour in Europe''.
''Even Renzi is reluctant to ally himself with Paris in
front of Angela Merkel,'' the paper wrote referring to the
German chancellor who has been a champion of financial
discipline in the EU.
''Allying with Rome would permit Paris to transform a
weakness into anti-austerity activism, but Renzi seems more
interested in convincing Brussels that Italy can get on by
itself and negotiate with Angela Merkel without allying with a
troubled partner''.
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