Premier Matteo Renzi said
Thursday that an investment plan proposed by European Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker worth some 300-billion euros "is a
step forward".
The Juncker plan "goes in the direction" that Italy has
proposed for investment spending outside of strict budget rules,
Renzi said ahead of an European Union meeting where the plan was
likely to be discussed.
The long-evoked flexibility by member states in
interpreting EU fiscal policy "will be addressed in January,
when the Commission will make a statement", Renzi said.
In his role of EU duty president Renzi has spearheaded a
drive for greater flexibility in meeting the conditions of the
Growth and Stability Pact requiring member states to remain
within rigid macroeconomic parameters, in the name of growth and
job creation across the continent.
His proposals have been broadly welcomed although the EU
institutions and some member states have made it clear that
flexibility is dependent on structural reforms.
Boosting growth in the recession-plagued Italian economy is
key to creating jobs and luring those who have emigrated back
home.
The premier said Italians "can and must pronounce the word
'future'," Renzi said.
"Our editorialists, the political talk shows, look on the
present with desperation," said Renzi.
"If we go on like this we won't be going anywhere," he
said.
Meanwhile, Renzi praised the proposed free-trade agreement
between the United States and the European Union under
negotiation in Brussels as "an opportunity for Italy".
The planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
(TTIP) must "move forward," said Renzi.
He added that it should be tied "to another Italian battle,
that of 'made-in' (Italy) products, in turn linked to the
participation of small and medium-sized enterprises".
The TTIP deal grew out of a decision of late 2011 to boost
trade and revive stagnant economies on both sides of the
Atlantic.
Negotiations began in June 2013 but a deal is unlikely to
be brokered by the original deadline of 2015.
It must also be approved by the European Council and the
European Parliament, and then separately by the national
parliaments of all 28 EU member states before it can come into
force.
Meanwhile, Renzi said that Italy has made unprecedented
progress during its current chairmanship of the European Union.
The position rotates every six months among EU States.
"Now we can take Italy back to where it should be," he said
ahead of the EU meetings.
He was speaking during Italy Innovation Day in Brussels,
recalling the packet of reforms his government has implemented
as well as those still in the pipeline.
"There are many problems that have to be faced up to, we
are dealing with them," he said.
"In nine months we made an important package," of
legislation, Renzi added.
"No country in Europe has ever done so much altogether,"
Renzi declared.
Now, Italy must encourage greater confidence in emigrants
to convince them to return home.
"Italians must go back to believing in themselves again,"
and think more about their future, Renzi said in a speech
Thursday to young Italians working in Brussels.
Italy today is "a country ready to try to make," those who
have emigrated abroad come home, he said, referring to the brain
drain of qualified young people escaping unemployment in Italy.
The premier said the country's long history should not mean
there is no future.
"It is confusing to use the word 'future' in Italy, it is
difficult where there has been the Colosseum, the Renaissance,
where beauty has created what nobody else imagined doing, from
Venice to Sicily," the premier said.
However "also in Italy one can pronounce the word future",
Renzi said.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
