Sergio Cesaratto – The hawks’ trick to make Italy fall into a trap
The future of European governance is still being discussed, but not in Italy. Italy runs the risk of being trapped in deceptively lenient rules
Sergio Cesaratto is Professor of Growth and Development Economics and of Monetary and Fiscal Policies in the European Monetary Union, University of Siena. His newest book, “Heterodox Challenges in Economics – Theoretical Issues and the Crisis of the Eurozone” was recently published by Springer Read our review here
Interview by Lorenzo Torrisi
The original Italian version at Il Sussidiario can be read here
Translated by BRAVE NEW EUROPE
Valdis Dombrovskis and Paolo Gentiloni (LaPresse)
In the week that has just ended, the issue of the future of the Stability and Growth Pact rules, which are still suspended, has resurfaced. The German newspaper Handelsblatt published an exclusive report on the contents of a document drawn up by economists supporting the European Stability Mechanism, suggesting a change in the debt/GDP parameter from 60% to 100%, while leaving the deficit/GDP parameter unchanged at 3%.
Would this be a positive change for Italy? According to Sergio Cesaratto, Professor of European Monetary and Fiscal Policy at the University of Siena, who has just published “Sei lezioni sulla moneta – La politica monetaria com’è e come viene raccontata” (Diarkos), “such a proposal could be misleading in that it is apparently more realistic. The reduction in 20 years of the debt/GDP ratio to 60% envisaged by the Fiscal Compact of 2012 has remained an unimplemented measure because it is unrealistic.
