Domino-effect: Minister in Italie wil de Lire opnieuw invoeren

[Dr. Marc-Alexander Fluks]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Bron:  Financial Times
Datum: 3 juni 2005
URL:   http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0f0888a8-d41c-11d9-9db0-00000e2511c8.html


Italian minister moots return of the lira
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Roberto MaroniItaly's membership of the 12-nation eurozone was put in
question on Friday by a government minister who said the country should
consider bringing back the lira.

As financial markets digested the remarks of Roberto Maroni, Italy's
welfare minister, the interest rate differential between Italian and
German bonds rose to 23 basis points, the widest spread since November
2002.

Mr Maroni is a prominent politician in the Northern League, a junior
partner in the centre-right government led by Silvio Berlusconi, prime
minister.

Mr Maroni does not speak for the government as a whole, but his comments
were striking as they came from a country that has traditionally been a
strong advocate of closer European integration.

His remarks were published in La Repubblica, an Italian daily, only days
after France and the Netherlands voted against the European Union's
proposed constitutional treaty in separate referendums.

In his interview with La Repubblica, Mr Maroni blamed Italy's poor
economic performance in recent years on the euro and those who introduced
it - a jab at Romano Prodi, the former European Commission president who
now leads Italy's centre-left opposition.

"It's been three years now that the euro, not through its own fault but
because of those who managed the move to the single currency, has shown
that it's not capable of dealing with the slowdown in economic growth,
with the loss of competitiveness and with the employment crisis," Mr
Maroni said.

"Isn't it perhaps better to return, temporarily, at least to a system of a
dual circulation of currencies [the euro and the lira]? In Europe there is
a virtuous example, and it's Britain, which is growing and developing,
maintaining its own currency," Mr Maroni said. "A cry for help is coming
from citizens."

Mr Maroni's populist, anti-foreigner Northern League party has often been
critical of the EU. The League's views are not shared by other parties in
the ruling coalition, but Mr Berlusconi has blamed Italy's plunge into
recession since last October on the euro's high exchange rate against the
dollar and on the European Central Bank's monetary policy.

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(c) 2005 Financial Times

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