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Why Monti, despite Merkel, could prove the euro’s best hope - The Washington Post
Keywords:
Italy's prime minister, Mario Monti, a senior EU official before becoming prime minister, has the credibility and credentials to bring the French and German sides together on a new plan forward for the European Union, says Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post. In this report from Rome, where leaders of Italy, Spain, France and Germany are meeting to discuss solutions Pearlstein describes the solutions Monti is putting forward. The European Investment Fund would be built up so that it has funding of about $175 billion or 1% of Europe's GDP to finance truly productivity and growth enhancing projects of innovative small and medium sized business in transportation, energy, education and environmental sectors. These companies have suffered shortages of capital as banks pulled bank from lending. It is the inadequate private investment that is causing the greatest damage in this crisis and $175 billion is at the low end of the amount needed in this crisis. Other steps Monti is pushing forward- for immediate steps to tackle the crisis deposit insurance to prevent a run on banks is essential for European banks. This would come with a eurozone regulatory authority that would have the powers to regulate European banks. The European Financial Stability Facility would be the "sovereign buyer of last resort," under Monti's proposal. Eurobonds come up as a key part of the solution. This is not because German and French taxpayers would be required to finance economies of Spain and Italy. As was shown by the U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) a well designed program could pay for itself. This would include the EU financial authority taking up stakes in the banks getting help and closing banks that are insolvent. The key point is that if properly executed and executed in a timely and appropriate way this does not have to cost French and German taxpayers- the important thing being to support the eurozone economies before the situation deteriorates. Borrowing at 6% for Spain and Italy will only put the situation out of control as deficits rise rapidly. The concessions for tighter regulation of European banking systems, reducing risk in banking, setting up adequate reserves, closing poorly run banks, and ceding powers to a European Financial Authority that can make the final decisions, are the steps that would have to go with these arrangements. Sound financial management requires that the kind of banking risks taken in the speculative bubbles in Spain, the lack of transparency and credibility in banking estimates of bad loans in the system, and the glossing over the problems at Bankia, would have to be addressed in solutions through regulation by a credible European Financial Authority to convince skeptical German public opinion that financial accounts are conducted in a proper manner.
Actions taken by the Italian government of Mario Monti to improve competitiveness in 2011-2013
01/19/2012
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From Taxis to Tolls, Italy Seeks Competition Push
Wall Street Journal 01/19/2012
Germany's Inflated Fear of Inflation
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The Rest of Europe vs. Germany
New York Times 02/16/2012
Mario Monti and Italy's Generational Crisis | Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs 02/14/2012
Wall Street Journal 03/27/2012
Italy's Labor Reforms Are Serious and Will Be Effective
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Innovative ways to recapitalize banks and reduce government debt in Italy in 2012
07/13/2011
Italian banks exchange Italian government bonds for government properties, which they lease back to the government. The banks use the properties as collateral for loans from the ECB, and Italy's government retires the bonds and reduces the debt load. This is part of new legislation passed in the Italian parliament under Mario Monti in Dec. 2011.
Grouped Articles
Spanish Banks More Vulnerable Than Italy's
Wall Street Journal 07/13/2011
Italy Central Banker Is Open to 'Bad Bank'
Wall Street Journal 02/10/2014
Italy Agrees on Fund to Support Battered Lenders
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Just Don't Call It a 'Bailout'
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Euro-Zone Banks Tap Big ECB Loans
Wall Street Journal 12/21/2011
Staring Into the ECB's Mini Bazooka
Wall Street Journal 12/21/2011
Italy's culture of tax evasion and the cost to the economy
11/25/2011
One estimate of the loss to the Italian Treasury from tax evasion- through underreporting of income from plumbers to real estate agents and large property owners and other forms of tax evasion- is $340 billion. With the deepening economic crisis the sense of what this is costing the country is beginning to sink in. About 73% of Italians now support the fight against tax evasion being led by the new government of Mario Monti, the former European commissioner. The loss is not only to the Treasury and ability to balance the budget without deficits, this also burdens companies and reduces capital needed for investments in plant, new equipment, and R&D, which create jobs.
Grouped Articles
Amid crisis, Italy confronts a culture of tax evasion - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/25/2011
Italy Plan Opens Pivotal Week for Euro
Wall Street Journal 12/05/2011
BusinessWeek 12/08/2011
Italy Tries to Raise the Social Stigma on Tax Evasion
New York Times 12/24/2011
Italy’s uphill financial fight - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/27/2011
Deepening Crisis Over Euro Pits Leader Against Leader
Wall Street Journal 12/30/2011
Mario Monti, prime minister of Italy, and his letter to the Journal defending labor reforms
04/07/2012
Grouped Articles
Italy's Labor Reforms Are Serious and Will Be Effective
Wall Street Journal 04/07/2012
Europe's Reform Pact Means Little
Wall Street Journal 04/15/2012
Wall Street Journal 04/26/2012
Monti's Mounting Italian Challenge
Wall Street Journal 06/11/2012
Why Monti, despite Merkel, could prove the euro’s best hope - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/24/2012
Wall Street Journal 06/26/2012
The movement towards a growth compact for the EU after the presidential election in France in April 2012
05/03/2012
Mario Monti put it best when he said he could visualize a situation where a country has improved its competiiveness and fiscal balance but cannot find consumers to buy its goods.
Grouped Articles
Italian Prime Ministerâs Political Acrobatics
New York Times 04/28/2013
Election Heralds Power Shift in Alliance With Germany
Wall Street Journal 05/03/2012
French presidential campaign ends with Sarkozy trailing - The Washington Post
Washington Post 05/06/2012
Europe Moving Toward Small Steps to Promote Growth
New York Times 05/10/2012
In test for Europe, Ireland votes on fiscal treaty - The Washington Post
Washington Post 05/31/2012
Amid crisis, leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain meet in Rome - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/22/2012
Efforts by the government of prime minister Mario Monti to open up guilds and professional sectors
01/20/2012
Efforts by the Monti government to issue more taxi licenses, pharmacy licenses and introduce competition in professional and other sectors protected from competition.
Grouped Articles
Italy Plans New Measures to Liberalize Economy
New York Times 01/20/2012
Mario Monti and Italy's Generational Crisis | Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs 02/14/2012
Wall Street Journal 03/27/2012
Italy's Labor Reforms Are Serious and Will Be Effective
Wall Street Journal 04/07/2012
Wall Street Journal 04/26/2012
Monti's Mounting Italian Challenge
Wall Street Journal 06/11/2012
Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, on why the European Union will endure regardless of the outcome in Greece
02/10/2012
Mario Monti tells the editors of the New York Times in an interview, that the EU will endure because it was in the interests of Germany. Competitive devaluations if countries left the EU would have an enormous harmful impact on Germany. Germany send two thirds of its exports to EU countries. Monti says even if Greece were to exit the euro the EU will endure. The vision of a united Europe continues to shape its politics.
Grouped Articles
Italy's Monti Hopes Summit Win Plays at Home
Wall Street Journal 06/29/2012
Italian Prime Ministerâs Political Acrobatics
New York Times 04/28/2013
Italian Left Bolstered by Showing in Mayoral Races
Wall Street Journal 06/11/2013
‘The European Union needs Italy’ - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/18/2013
New York Times 05/22/2014
Italyâs Leader Is Optimistic About Greece and Euro
New York Times 02/10/2012
Mario Monti, as head of the new Italian government in November 2011
11/10/2011
Former European Commissioner, Mario Monti, is the top candidate to head the new administration in Italy.
Grouped Articles
Italy's Monti Hopes Summit Win Plays at Home
Wall Street Journal 06/29/2012
Italian Prime Ministerâs Political Acrobatics
New York Times 04/28/2013
‘The European Union needs Italy’ - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/18/2013
Italy Front-Runner Seen as Political Outsider
Wall Street Journal 11/11/2011
Rome Plan for Growth Garners EU Praise
Wall Street Journal 11/11/2011
Can Italy Put Berlusconi Behind It?
New York Times 11/10/2011
The focus on competitiveness by economists, credit ratings agencies, and European leaders as austerity measures alone won't work
02/05/2011
Mario Monti focusses on the need for investing in the economy in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt during a January 2011 visit to Berlin. S&P economists and Nobel winner Stiglitz also emphasize this after a downgrade of France's credit rating- the need for improved competitiveness for the economies of France, Spain Portugal and Italy.
Grouped Articles
New York Times 09/25/2011
Wall Street Journal 05/29/2013
The Next First (and Only) 100 Days
New York Times 12/10/2011
A Proud Nation Ponders How to Halt Its Slow Decline
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After a Recession in Portugal, the Tiny Green Fruits of Success
New York Times 08/28/2013
France Says It Will Miss Budget Deficit Targets
Wall Street Journal 09/12/2013
Short term actions to save the euro taken at the Brussels negotiations on June 28, 2012
01/11/2012
Short term steps Germany agreed to when pushed hard by Italy, Spain and France, include the critical actions to let the European rescue funds to directly buy Italian and Spanish bonds on private markets to drive down bond yields, and provide direct aid to Italian and Spanish banks. The two steps were vital to restore market confidence and necessary if the European project was to be saved. The marathon negotiation stetched for 14 hours with brinksmanship, and were described by prime minister Monti of Italy as "hard and tense" but worth it.
Grouped Articles
Italy's Monti Hopes Summit Win Plays at Home
Wall Street Journal 06/29/2012
Global Markets Soar on European Breakthrough
New York Times 06/29/2012
Return of Long-Term Bond Buyers Seen as Crucial to Europe
New York Times 06/29/2012
German Election Overturns Political Order
Wall Street Journal 09/23/2013
Italy Leader, Monti, Tells Germany Austerity Isn't Enough
New York Times 01/11/2012
Euro Strengthens as Fears Fade
Wall Street Journal 01/12/2013
Why Mario Monti is the Euro's best hope
06/24/2012
The leadership exercized by Mario Monti in Italy and supported by all Italians offers one of the best hopes for the Euro. The efforts of the mild mannered professor of political economy from Bocconi University in Milan.
Linked Articles
Italy's Leader Calls Economic Efforts "a Very Tough War"
New York Times 07/11/2012
Why Monti, despite Merkel, could prove the euro’s best hope - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/24/2012
Mario Monti of Italy and the plans for a sounder monetary union in Europe
06/22/2012
The discussions in Rome between Mario Monti of Italy and the leaders of Germany, France, Spain, at the end of June 2012. Monti as respected mediator between the different sides and positions and the importance of productive discussions to the future of the Euro and the economies of Europe.
Linked Articles
Why Monti, despite Merkel, could prove the euro’s best hope - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/24/2012
Amid crisis, leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain meet in Rome - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/22/2012
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