MNI SOURCES: Italy Regret EuCo Not Fully Onside For EMU Reform

By Silvia Marchetti

     ROME (MNI) - The European Council will likely not call for an "in-depth"

eurozone reform acceleration and further progress on handling immigrants,

leaving several Italian diplomatic sources expressing regret, sources close to

the talks told Market News.

     "There are undeniable difficulties in certain areas: the discussion is

still open on the union's governance restyling model and on furthering common

initiatives on the migration front. There are far too many contrasting voices

within the member states to reach a common stance on these two aspects at this

summit," said a source familiar with the draft communique, due to be released

Friday. 

     European Union leaders are meeting in Brussels for the last summit of 2017,

with issues such as Brexit on the agenda.

     Rome is looking for a "wider, inclusive and more ambitious EU reform

roadmap that takes into account all issues, including the EU single budget,

anti-cyclical stabilisation mechanisms and the need to speedily complete the

banking union, rather than having a fragmented reform with new bits and pieces

implemented at different moments," argued the official. 

     Other sources explained that Italy is in favour of a "fast-track" monetary

union push, that currently appears at odds with EU Council President Donald

Tusk's preference for a more "soft, slow-pace and careful" integration model. 

     "This overall reform must lead to strengthening the important pillar of

growth measures versus mere austerity ones, but we all know it is too soon to

strike an ideal balance between the EU's hawks and doves to actually put it down

on paper as shared commitment,", said another source close to the Rome

government. 

     --MIGRANT CRISIS

     Migration is another thorny issue absent from the communique. For Rome the

Eastern Visegrad bloc's more lenient approach in handling incoming refugees is

an important step forward, but still not enough.

     "Italy has invested a lot, and alone, in striking a crucial bilateral deal

with Libya to stop migratory flows, and we expect, hoped at least, that the

whole union was now willing to invest as well on this front," said a source. 

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

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