–Adds Monti Comments On ESM Banking License, Italy Growth Potential
FRANKFURT (MNI) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said Thursday
that he would be prepared to serve another term at the helm after
April’s elections in Italy, but only if he were asked.
“I hope there will be a clear result” from the elections, Monti
said in a debate at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, adding
that “I cannot foresee that a second occasion would be needed.”
But “should there be circumstances in which they were to believe
that I could serve helpfully after that period of the elections, I will
be there, I will consider,” he said.
Asked if this meant he would serve another term if Italy’s
president requested it, he said: “That is correct.”
Monti said the idea of a banking license for the European Stability
Mechanism was off the table at this point, though he suggested the issue
may not be done for good. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi
has said giving the ESM rescue fund a banking license would not be
compatible with EU treaties.
“One of the beauties of the European construction is that things
that are (off) the table one day or one year may well come back, out of
intellectual evolution or out of urgency, later on,” Monti said.
Monti reiterated that a Greek exit from the euro would be very
damaging and undermine the euro as a whole, but acknowledged that some
believe it can still happen.
“In the minds of some people it is a possibility. I do not believe
this will happen. I believe that were it to happen, it would be a damage
to the whole system … because the idea of the irreversibility of a
country being in the euro would be seriously damaged,” he said.
Monti reaffirmed that Italy will have a balanced budget next year,
making it “one of the few” countries on the continent, and said “there
is widely unexploited potential growth for Italy” if one succeeded in
restoring the competitiveness of Italy’s industries and services.
Monti also argued that all countries in the Eurozone would have
been “worse off” if the single currency had never come into existence.
“That goes for Italy but it also goes for Germany and everybody
else in my view,” he said, arguing that Germany has benefited from
exchange rate stability and a large internal European market.
Monti said it was “remarkable that the euro as a currency has not
suffered,” during the crisis, citing the relatively stable situation on
currency markets. In terms of the euro’s future path, he said “a lot
will depend on the dollar.”
— Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142; email: frankfurt@mni-news.com —
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