Europe must turn from austerity to growth says Letta
(ANSA) – Rome, November 1 – Europe must turn from austerity to growth, Italian Premier Enrico Letta said in a letter to six European newspapers including Turin’s La Stampa Friday.
Letta called for a “determined” joint effort by the European Union and warned against the rise of anti-EU populism.
He voiced confidence his unprecedented right-left coalition would last, despite repeated threats by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi to sink it, because of a split in Berlusconi’s party.
Letta said he had had his “boxes ready” to move out ahead of an October 2 confidence vote, when Berlusconi aimed to bring the government down over an office ban from a tax-fraud conviction but was forced into an embarrassing last-minute U-turn by a mutiny by pro-government rebels.
The so-called doves in Berlusconi’s party will keep the government going to enact key reforms to tackle Italy’s worst recession in 20 years and frame a new electoral law to avert an inconclusive result like February’s, experts say.