The front page of the economic section of French daily Le Figaro on Monday said the European Union has its “back against the wall” with regards to Italy aid on the coronavirus emergency.
“Italy will be the focus of discussions on common relaunch measures during the videoconference summit planned for Thursday,” it said.
“The high level of Italian debt and the absence of room for manoeuvre in Rome to finance even just a support plan to meet its needs is concerning financial markets,” it said.
“This fragility indirectly threatens other countries in the eurozone’s south, such as Greece or Portugal, which were sorely tried by the consequences of the 2008 financial crisis. In perspective, the entire eurozone risks being destabilised by Italy becoming its weak link,” it said.
“With expectations on cohesion and the ambition of responses to rescue the Union’s economies, the 27 heads of state and government have their backs against the wall. The divergences remain between, on the one hand, Germany and the Netherlands and the other members on the other,” it said. (ANSAmed).
