Germany-Italy
Isolated Merkel embraces Monti and growth
26 April 2012
Presseurop
La Stampa
La Stampa, 26 April 2012
Angela Merkel doesn’t want to be left alone in the turmoil of the crisis. With her long time partner Nicolas Sarkozy on the way out after the first round of French elections, the chancellor is already looking for another ally, and Mario Monti seems to be her choice. German government’s spokesman Steffen Seibert has revealed that Merkel and Monti’s staff have already met to plan a series of joint German-Italian initiatives to promote economic stimulus measures to be discussed at the European council in June, La Stampa reports.
In addition to the possible loss of traditional stalwarts France and Netherlands (the Dutch government resigned following a row over austerity), Merkel’s fiscal discipline creed came under fire yesterday as ECB chairman Mario Draghi declared that fiscal consolidation cannot be achieved through cuts and taxes alone, and requires “structural measures to favour economic growth”.
Resuming this position with “More courage for growth” as headline, the Turin daily notes that -
While waiting for the French election verdict Merkel paid heed to Draghi, finally coming to a formal acknowledgment that “we need growth, to be sustained through structural reforms.
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