Germany's foreign minister said
Thursday that center-left Premier Matteo Renzi's reform drive is
clearly being successful.
"The Renzi-led government is moving forward with reforms in
a coherent way and with visible success," Frank-Walter
Steinmeier told ANSA ahead of a Friday trip to Rome, where he
will attend an international forum on immigration.
"Based on our experience we know it's not an easy task,
which is why our respect for Italy's efforts is even greater,"
he said.
His remarks came as the Senate labour committee approved
the government's Jobs Act labour reform bill after voting down
all the amendments that had been filed, priming it to go to the
Senate floor next Tuesday.
The German seal of approval follows on that of former
British prime minister Tony Blair, who praised Renzi on
Wednesday after his signature reform cleared a major hurdle
towards becoming law after it was approved by Italy's Lower
House.
"Renzi is one of the new European leaders that has the
courage to change," the former Labour leader told Sky TG24 in an
interview.
"I applaud what he is doing, which is absolutely right for
Italy and for Europe. It's hell when you first make the changes,
but afterwards you wish you'd made more of them".
Renzi wants the bill converted into law by year's end so
it can go into effect January 1, but vast sectors of Italian
labor and dissenters from within his own Democratic Party (PD)
continue objecting that it will scale back rights, not create
jobs.
The Lower House approved the bill on Tuesday in what was a
hard-won victory for the Italian premier over external but also
internal opposition.
Forty MPs from his PD walked out of the Lower House rather
than vote the measure.
Italy's biggest and most leftwing union federation, the
CGIL, which has traditional ties with the PD but which has all
but broken off with Renzi, has called a general strike December
12 along with the smaller UIL and UGL federations.
"I see two unions, CGIL and UIL, who will go on a general
strike against our government," Renzi said.
"I sincerely wish they pull off a good demo, but the true
truth is that our labour reform will grant more rights to those
whom the unions have so far neglected".
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