ITALY VOTE IS 'BLUNT MESSAGE' TO BRUSSELS

February 27, 2013 -->
ITALIAN voters have handed Brussels a "blunt message" against its austerity policies, analysts and politicians say, but the EU executive says there is no other way out of Europe's economic woes.
Just as the eurozone debt crisis seemed to be melting away, the threat of political instability in Italy due to an election stalemate in the European Union's fourth largest economy revived fears of fresh financial turmoil in the months ahead.
Leaders across Europe called for the quick formation of a "stable" government and former Belgian premier Guy Verhofstadt, leader of Europe's centrist parties, said stability was key "if we want to avoid a return to the worst of the eurozone crisis."
"It is a very difficult result for the EU as a whole," said Martin Schulz, the German Social-Democrat president of the European Parliament, delivering the first official response in Brussels to the vote. "What happens in Italy affects us all."
Schulz said the Italian vote was "a clear expression of dissatisfaction", a message that "people are ready to make sacrifices but not at any cost."
Bernadette Segol, leader of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), said the gains made by parties that campaigned against the EU's austerity formula - around 57 per cent - was a new "signal of alarm".
"Many people don't understand that Europe can find money to save the banks but not to relaunch growth," she told AFP.
The polls saw a massive vote for a new populist anti-austerity party which came a close third to centre-left Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani and former premier Silvio Berlusconi on the right.
The big loser was outgoing prime minister Mario Monti, who was drafted in to run a technocratic government in the debt-strapped country after Berlusconi was ousted at the height of the financial crisis in 2011.
The EU executive admitted that "we clearly hear the message of concern expressed by Italian citizens", facing 11.6 per cent unemployment this year - almost 40 per cent for under-25s - after 10.6 per cent last year.
But Italy had to stick to its pledges of budget cuts and economic reforms, said the European Commission.
"Italy has made commitments vis a vis the Commission and other member states, on the reduction of its deficit, on the reduction of its debt, and on a number of other pledges of structural reform," said commission spokesman Olivier Bailly.
Putting the changes off now, would only mean more pain and greater austerity later, he said, adding: "What if we had not done anything ... what would be the size of the bill ... in five year's time?"
The Italian economy has been in the doldrums for several years and is expected to shrink 1.0 per cent this year after 2.2 per cent in 2012, according to the latest EU forecasts.
Its accumulated debt is forecast at 128.1 per cent of GDP this year, more than double the EU limit of 60 per cent.

- See more at: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/italy-vote-is-blunt-message-to-brussels/story-e6freuz9-1226586453688#sthash.PUHnzJn4.dpuf
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/banking/cash-grab-inactive-bank-accounts-to-be-seized/story-e6frfmcr-1226585867131#ixzz2LzZJGbMh

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