Italy recovery good news - Moscovici (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, August 31 - European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told ANSA in an interview Thursday "the good news is that the Italian economy is finally recovering and this will facilitate the reduction of the debt", whose size "remains the main weak point" of the country's pubic finances.
    Moscovici said that "with a 3% deficit Italy would not be able to reduce its very high public debt". He said Italy "needs to continue to follow what (Economy Minister) Pier Carlo Padoan calls 'the narrow path' between cutting the deficit and boosting growth".
    Moscovici said "the 3% was conceived as a limit, not as a target".
    In other remarks, Moscovici said that to launch the process of reform and achieving a greater "democratic legitimacy" of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and in particular of the Eurogroup, "there is no time to waste" because "the divergencies that already exist inside the eurozone" must be eliminated. He said "the window of political opportunity to be taken to intervene is now".
    Moscovici also said that the EU's foreign investment rules must be revised and that the Commission "will present concrete initiatives in the autumn". He was speaking about action repeatedly urged by Italy, France and Germany to have greater control over foreign investments into the EU, especially from China.