Monti: New Italian government should stick to reform plan

During a speech at a Competition Conference in Brussels, outgoing Italian PM Mario Monti said that implementing austerity measures and introducing reforms in Italy had been indispensible, even though it had been hurting growth.

Monti pointed out that the situation in the financial markets improves at a quicker pace than economic growth, which will nevertheless also benefit from the reforms. He also added that delaying deficit targets damages credibility.

Finally, the outgoing PM emphasized the need for continuing with the reform plan, after the new government in Italy is formed: “In 2013 Italy will have a close to zero structural deficit. There is an accompanying strategy at the EU level that needs to be pursued, unless we passively allow that simplistic, some would say populistic (I do not pass judgment on the Italian elections) tendency to have the EU policies derailed.”