Monti: building bridges between Northern and Southern Europe – With spotlights on the eurozone crisis, the foreign press paid close attention to the European tour of Mario Monti, on a diplomatic mission to overcome the impasse on the use of EFSF funds. According to the Financial Times, the Italian Prime Ministery is the man who can unite the North and South, a bridge between the eurozone’s two spirits during this crisis (August 1 – Italy moves to bridge Europe’s divide). And Monti’s determination to find a point of communality with other European leaders was made clear to the international papers with his phone call last weekend with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. On July 29, both the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Die Krisendiplomatie läuft auf Hochtouren) and the Handelsblatt ( Die Euro-Gesundbeterin) ran pieces on the agreement between Rome and Berlin to defend the euro. This position was reinforced during Monti’s bilateral talks in Paris with French President François Hollande. Both Les Echos and the Wall Street Journal underlined on August 1 that Italy and France will do everything they can to protect the single currency (Les Echos – Paris et Rome feront « tout pour protéger l’intégrité de la zone euro »; Wall Street Journal – Hollande, Monti Stress Commitment to Euro Zone). And the Spanish ABC wrote about Monti’s words on possible improvements (August 2 – Monti, optimista, ve ya la luz al final del túnel frente a la prudencia de España). According to Expansion, if the Prime Ministers sees “the light at the end of the tunnel”, it is because he has obtained better results than his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy. The Spanish paper wrote on the eve of Monti’s visit to Madrid and wondered whether the Italian technocrat might be a good model for his Spanish colleague (August 1 – Monti, ¿un modelo a seguir para Rajoy?)
Draghi’s market iniziative – Along with Monti, the foreign press discussed the deeds of another “Super-Mario,” European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. After his reassurances last week to protect the euro, all the major international dailies commented on the outcome of the August 2 ECB Board meeting (Expansion – Draghi anuncia nuevas medidas no convencionales en las próximas semanas; Les Echos – La BCE laisse ses taux inchangés, l’Europe attend Draghi, Financial Times – Stocks firm ahead of Draghi comments).
Italy and emerging markets: trade and investments – Finally, there were also reports on economic relations between Italy and emerging markets. Not only is Italy attracting investments, as in the case of China Railway Construction, which is about to invest in the Inter soccer team (August 2, Financial Times – Inter Milan sells stake to Chinese group and Wall Street Journal – An Italian Job for China Railway Construction), but trade is also growing with countries showing a great deal of interest in Made in Italy brands. As the Gulf News reported, bilateral trade between Italy and the United Arab Emirates grew 27% during the first semester of 2012.
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