Ex-IMF official tapped to head Italy firmly backs euro
MILAN — The man tapped to head a neutral government in Italy after two populists failed in their bid is a former official at the International Monetary Fund who is a firm believer in the euro and in the necessity of Italy cutting its stubbornly high-debt load.
Carlo Cottarelli, an economist, has previous government experience under the short-lived centre-left government of Enrico Letta, tapped to identify areas where government spending could be trimmed. He found 32 billion euros ($37 billion) in cuts, but left embittered when the government soon changed hands at the obstacles he found within the bureaucracy resisting cuts.
On Monday, President Sergio Mattarella tapped Cottarelli to try to form a government that can bring Italy to a new election, which Cottarelli said could come as early as this autumn.
In his first remarks, Cottarelli sought to calm markets and Italy’s European partners, assuring that his government would guarantee “prudent” management of Italy’s debt, which at 132 per cent of gross domestic product is Europe’s heaviest after Greece.