MNI SOURCES: Italy In Favour Of Multi-Speed Europe - Officials

--Rome Seeks Further EU Integration For Post-Brexit Era - Officials

By Silvia Marchetti

     ROME (MNI) - Italy is working towards the creation of a multi-tier Europe,

uniting a core of modernising countries in order to boost the European Union

integration project in the post-Brexit era, senior government officials have

told Market News.

     According to one senior Italian government source, it was now essential to

see the EU developing at different speeds across countries in order to further

integration.

     "The idea of building an EU based on different speeds is necessary to

unlock certain obstacles and move on with key issues. It's not a matter of

leaving other members behind, but we need to be realistic: We can't always wait

for all 27 to agree," said a government source. 

     Rome has teamed-up with France in paving the way to such goal. The idea of

a multi-speed Europe was re-launched at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos

by French president Emmanuel Macron. 

     Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni has always supported such an option

and German chancellor Angela Merkel has also been open to it in the past. 

     --POST-BREXIT NEED 

     Reforming Europe based on different levels of integration between the 'ins'

and 'outs' is seen by both Rome and Paris as the only possible way forward to

avoid fragmentation in the post-Brexit era. 

     Sandro Gozi, Italy's undersecretary of State for EU Affairs, argued that

the new, "reinforced Italy-France dynamic will be channelled towards Brussels,

at a higher, central level to spearhead a new European integration project."

     The cooperation between the two countries will lead to a new path with

"ambitious targets" mainly in industrial cooperation and in the defence sector,

that will ultimately act as trigger for change across the entire bloc, Gozi

said. 

     Italy and France are currently working on a strategic bilateral treaty

which will be launched at their next summit in September. It is expected to be

the pillar of what is being seen as a future multi-tier union. 

     Gozi explained however that a multi-speed Europe would never be an

exclusive and closed group, but an inclusive club, open to all EU institutions

and countries willing to move on together in certain fields. 

     But paving way to it will not be an easy task. Last year, Italy was forced

to drop all reference to such an option in the final declaration of the Rome

Treaty celebrations to avoid clashing with Eastern bloc states, afraid of being

left behind in the slow lane. 

     "EU treaties already acknowledge the possibility that cooperation is

boosted among a hard core of states aiming for common goals. Ever since its

birth, the EU has always worked in such a way. Integration has been pushed

forward by a tight-knit team of nations," noted Gozi, listing as examples the

Schengen Treaty and the single currency. 

     --HARMONISING TAXES

     Shared French and Italian goals for a multi-speed Europe also include a

pro-growth and investment agenda at the EU-level, a shared migrant strategy for

the Mediterranean and tax harmonisation within the single market. 

     "It is important to boost fiscal coordination across the bloc to avoid

favouring certain countries over others. Eliminating the economic distortions

that stem from harmful tax competition between members allows to establish a

common level playing field," said the government source, who argued that forms

of internal competition have given rise to "unacceptable dumping practices" even

within the EU.

     France and Italy will also push on boosting representation and policy

convergence across the union through pan-EU election lists by rallying support

in peer countries, said Gozi.

     "Having transnational lists at the next 2019 European Parliament elections

goes in the right direction of strengthening the EU institutions' democracy.

These stand as an important step forward", he added. 

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MFIBU$,M$E$$$,M$I$$$,M$X$$$,MC$$$$,MI$$$$,MX$$$$]