Text of report by Italian privately owned centrist newspaper La
Stampa website, on 27 September.
[OSC Translated Text] ["Behind-the-scenes" report by "P. Mas.":
"Prime Minister Reassures Geithner: 'We Will Continue With Rigour'"]
New York - After [Italian Prime Minister] Monti, assuming that
next spring there will be a post-Monti [government] in Italy, there
will not be a disaster: "The people of Italy have matured, they have
understood what the situation is, and they will still continue the
policies necessary to resolve it." This was how the prime minister
responded to the concerns of US Treasury Secretary Geithner and of
the other illustrious guests, whom he met with on Tuesday evening
for dinner, and whom he has seen in private in the two days he spent
in New York.
The rendezvous was at the celebrated restaurant Le Cirque di
Sirio Maccioni, which for decades has been the privileged meeting-
place for New York's VIPs. And Tuesday evening was no exception. On
the ground floor, Tony Blair was celebrating his wife's birthday,
among lobsters, halibut, and chocolate souffle, while near his table
an African head of state was recovering from the labours of the UN
General Assembly. On entering, Monti, accompanied by Foreign
Minister Terzi and by the ambassador to Washington, Bisogniero,
immediately bumped into an old acquaintance: Jack Welch, the
legendary chief executive officer of General Electric, with whom he
had clashed when he was a [European] Commissioner in Brussels,
because he blocked his firm's merger with Honeywell. "Welch - Monti
joked - was the first to get to know the determination of the young
Europe. Even before Bill Gates, who learnt from his experience."
At the top of the stairs, in the small room reserved for guests
of honour, waiting for the prime minister was a group of economic
and financial celebrities, such as: Geithner; the Fed Chairman in
New York, William Dudley; the chief economist at Moody's Analytics,
Mark Zandi; and various CEOs of major firms. The guest list also
included Soros, although Monti saw him in private yesterday evening,
as he had done the day before with the financier Henry Kravis.
The most oft-repeated questions around the table related to
Italy's political future: The new, virtuous course is all well and
good, but what will happen in April? A few hours earlier, the prime
minister confirmed to CNN that he will not stand as a candidate, and
his guests were worried. "The elections will be held - Monti said -
and this will determine the government. But we will have continuity
in economic policies, whatever the outcome of the vote, because the
people of Italy have matured. They have understood that the things
we are doing are not being imposed by Europe: They are necessary,
and they must be pursued afterward, too." Monti will not stand as a
candidate, because he is a life senator, and the outcome of the
election does not exclude some form of future participation on his
part in Italy's political actions, and government actions. But
before his US guests, many of whom were potential investors, the
priority was to reassure: Don't worry over the solidity of the
executive in office, the scandals along the lines of Lazio Region,
or the debate on domestic questions such as the electoral law. The
elections will decide the government, but the stance of
responsibility is now set out, especially in the consciences of
ordinary people, and so the politicians will not be able to go off
course too much. Between one course and another, the guests wanted
to know better the mechanisms of the aid announced by the ECB, and
the possibility that Italy may also access it, as well as Spain. As
regards the former hypothesis, Monti had already told CNN that he
regarded it as improbable, but nevertheless, if it happened, the
form in which it took place would not involve a loss of national
sovereignty. As for the second hypothesis, "Spain is taking the
steps necessary for emerging from the crisis," as is Greece, which
the prime minister believed will not quit the euro.
The last word was spoken by Geithner, the most illustrious guest,
who up until that moment had listened to the questions of the other
diners. "It is surprising - he said - that Italy h as changed in
such a short space of time, also recreating confidence in Europe."
The important thing, now, is not to go back to the mistakes of the
past.
