Italy emerging from crisis (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, February 27 - Italy has been through "an economic crisis as long as two world wars", Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano told a press conference with German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel Monday. "Today there is a plus sign, it's not brilliant, we can do more but after so many years it has replaced the minus sign," he said, recalling that "Germany took at least 10 years to emerge from a condition of difficulty". In Alfano's view, Italy needs more time to allow structural reforms to have their full effects on the economy, which is showing timid signs of recovering.