In this edition of U-talk, Anthony Millery, from France asks:
“I’m French but my family come from Italy. I’d like to know whether Italy entering the recession is having an impact on the EU? And if so, what are the consequences both for Italy and the European Union as a whole?”
Antonio Villafranca, Head & Senior Research Fellow European Programme responds:
“Well, Italy is the third biggest economy in the European Union, so any change in its economic performance is bound to have an impact on the whole European Union and also on those European countries that are the main trading partners of Italy, which is firstly Germany and secondly France.
“From my point of view, it is wrong to think that the crisis that hit Europe and obvioulsy Italy, is not just a budget crisis, it’s not a crisis that affects just the budget of the states.
“Certainly its that but we have to say also that this crisis affects the balance of payments and it means that we have to act at Eurozone level because it is more important for us, the member states of the Eurozone, than for the other members of the EU.
“So, we have to make every effort to get economic convergence in the Eurozone.
“Unfortunately, we still have to make a lot of progress to get this convergence not only in budget policy but also in the economic policy of the Eurozone.”
Thanks to I’ISCPA and I’ISPI.