Tuesday 23 July 2013


Italy faces 'debt restructuring or leaving eurozone'

(AGI) Rome, July 23 - Italy faces a choice between debt restructuring and leaving eurozone, Five Star Movement founder Beppe Grillo said on Tuesday. Posting on his private blog, Grillo drew a parallel between the current situation and Italy's exiting the European Monetary Union in 1978. "Now, as then, Italy has no other option but to attract investors by offering ever higher interest on its government bonds. Now, as then, the market will force a decision on us," Grillo argues.
  "At the time, [Italy] quit the EMU and devaluated [the lira].
  The choice we now face is between restructuring debt and exiting the eurozone." Common currency blocs "generally serve economic annexation purposes," he said, arguing that thanks to the euro, Germany is protecting its foreign credit and its exports.