Ex-premier Matteo Renzi said Friday
on Facebook that "for months the Salvinis and Grillos lectures
us, on talk shows and in newspapers: copy Trump, the future is
protectionism, the open society only hurts.
"All it took was a report in American newspapers to silence
all the Italian protectionists and drive home that the
theoreticians of closure hurt Italy, really hurt it", referring
to tariffs reportedly threatened by United States President
Donald Trump.
Renzi said "those who scare monger about the future get into
the news. But those who make plans for the future are making
policy. This is the difference between us and the populists".
Renzi, the former leader of the ruling centre-left Democratic
Party, was referring to Matteo Salvini, the leader of the
anti-immigrant, anti-euro Northern League, and Beppe Grillo, the
leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
He was also referring to US press reports that Trump is
thinking of imposing punitive tariffs on a range of EU goods
including Vespa scooters and San Pellegrino mineral water as a
tit-for-tat measure against an EU ban on hormone-boosted beef.
Renzi went on to say that it was important to "protect
people" but exports were good for Italy. He also said that Italy
must be a "protagonist" of the open society, accompanied by a
"less bureaucratic" EU.
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