Renzi says EU citizens must stop

(ANSA) - Florence, May 6 - The current European generation must stop living as though on private income, Premier Matteo Renzi said in a speech to the State of the European Union conference on Friday. "After the glorious season of the (European) founding fathers, it is also up to us descendants to not live off the fat of the land," Renzi said. "The best speech about Europe in recent years was made by a non-European - it was made by American President Barack Obama, who reminded us of who we are, as if he had just found the ID card we had lost". Renzi added that the battle on immigration "is still to be fought" and that "thanks to Italy, the principle of (budget) flexibility has been upheld" in the EU. "In 2014, we stressed that the fiscal compact and budget rules were mistakenly conceived...and would have caused an economic disaster".