The European Union is in urgent
need of change because it is facing a period of danger posed by
outdated rules and outsized bureaucracies, says Premier Matteo
Renzi.
In an interview with CNN, Renzi said that EU rules such as
a budget limit of 3% deficit-to-gross domestic product (GDP) is
"a parameter of the past" although Italy will stick to the rules
as they now stand.
But Europe must change its outdated bureaucracies and
processes, or face more of the kind of unrest shown by the
recent vote on independence on Scotland, or even the upcoming
British vote on its future in the EU, Renzi said.
"This is a very dangerous moment, we have to change
Europe," Renzi said in an interview with CNN broadcaster
Christiane Amanpour recorded in London on Thursday and broadcast
Friday.
"I am absolutely convinced that 3% is the parameter of the
past. But I have a problem: Italy is a country where we have
lost credibility because we have not complied with the parameter
in the past," he added.
"So Italy's position is clear: we respect the 3%," said
Renzi, who repeated the comment in several media interviews
during his brief visit to London to meet with financial market
leaders as well as British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Renzi has been pressing hard for a relaxation of the EU's
budget rules, particularly the 3% limit, in terms of spending on
investments like infrastructure.
He expressed solidarity with the government of France,
which announced this week it would not meet the 3% limit until
2017 and would not impose austerity measures on its public to
speed things up.
With Italy mired in its third recession since 2008, Renzi's
government is pushing a range of reform measures designed to
attract investment and stimulate growth.
Renzi said he feared EU austerity policies could increase
the popularity of Marine Le Pen's extreme rightwing, anti-Europe
Front National (FN) party in France.
"Europe is a community of destinies and values. I prefer
the France of (President François) Hollande and (Prime Minister
Manuel) Valls (with a deficit) at 4.4% than that of Marine Le
Pen".
He told CNN that much of Europe's problem is with
"management".
"It is of absolute importance to reduce the power of the
bureaucracy in Europe. I think it is absolutely important to
reduce the level of power of the technocrats in Brussels," he
said.
Renzi added that he agreed Cameron's calls for the EU to
reform. Cameron has said Britain will hold an in-or-out
referendum on Britain's EU membership in 2017 if his
conservative party wins the next general election.
Later in the day, Renzi was greeted with jeers from
supports of the opposition 5-Star Movement (M5S) political party
in the Italian city of Ferrara, where he visited a school being
rebuilt after the 2012 earthquake in Emilia Romagna.
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