Italy’s Monti to meet Germany’s Merkel in Rome

PanARMENIAN.Net - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Rome on Friday, February 17 to discuss the latest developments in the euro zone debt crisis, Reuters reported.

Speaking in a television interview on Sky Italia, Monti also expressed satisfaction at the decline in Italian borrowing costs but said the spread of around 3.7 percentage points between Italian benchmark bonds and safer German Bunds was still "too high and must come down".

He said investors were concerned about what would happen in Italy when his technocratic government's term ended next year, but he added that he believed Italian politics had turned a corner and would remain less fractious after the 2013 election.

He said he was determined to reform Italy's labour market to provide better job opportunities for young people who were marginalised by the current rules and were "often desperate, and often right to be desperate".

While he hoped that reform could be agreed with trade unions, "we can't pull back (from a reform) if there is no accord", he added.

Asked to describe Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Monti said Sarkozy was "explosive and brilliant," while Merkel "transmits and extraordinary degree of consistency and reliability".

He added that these characteristics of the German chancellor naturally meant it took longer for her opinions and positions to "evolve".