Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he will press ahead with his plan to overhaul the country’s labor market, a top priority in his agenda, even amid opposition from unions and members of his political party.
“Compromise is not a bad word, but this is not a time for compromise but courage,” Renzi said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Erik Schatzker.
“I respect the ideas of unions. In this case, we must absolutely invest” in a new labor market model to help spur employment, he said.
Renzi’s program to overhaul Italy’s 40-year-old labor laws, unclog the creaky court system and rein in a suffocating bureaucracy is bogged down in Parliament after sparking opposition from some members of his Democratic Party.
With an economy mired in its third recession since 2008 and an unemployment rate hovering around 12.6 percent, Renzi said the country’s labor laws are too rigid, particularly those regarding the firing of workers, and discourage investment.
Renzi’s planned job market overhaul is a good first step to increasing employment creation, said Patrick De Maeseneire, chief executive officer of Adecco SA, the world’s largest provider of temporary workers.
Right Direction
“I think it’s going in the right direction,” De Maeseneire said in an interview in Rome today. “It’s a signal to the political environment that reforms are absolutely needed here in order to get people back to work.”
On Sept. 16 Renzi said he won’t wait indefinitely and may resort to the alternative route of a decree to get his labor proposals passed into law.
In June, Renzi extended the timeframe for delivering on his promises, emphasizing that his horizon was a three-year period starting Sept. 1 and lasting until the end of Parliament’s current term.
“We must change Italy -- without reforms in Italy, we can’t change Europe,” he said yesterday. He also said his goal remains leading the current government until 2018, when the legislature expires. “Now is not the time to hold elections.”
He reiterated that lawmakers must revise the country’s electoral laws to come up with a system that produces a clear winner and more stable governments.
“Usually in Italy there is the traditional approach: OK we have a problem, we go to elections. No, we must change the electoral law to give a clear message about who is the winner and who is the loser.”
‘Good Decisions’
Renzi repeated his call for pro-growth policies in Europe and said European Central Bank President Mario Draghi made “good decisions” with his recent stimulus measures.
Draghi said this month that policy makers may embark on further measures to revive the region’s economy after they committed earlier to buying asset-backed securities and covered bonds. That may include a plan of broad-based government-bond purchases if needed, the ECB chief said.
“We will verify the results” of the measures already approved, Renzi said. He said it’s too early to say whether so-called quantitative easing might be needed.
“The European Central Bank isn’t the Federal Reserve, which has a lot of power,” the premier said. Regarding the Middle East, Renzi said the crisis in Libya merits more attention.
“We must fight against terrorism in Syria and Iraq with the international coalition, but also in other countries, for example Libya, and give a message of hope for these countries.”
bloomberg.com
“Compromise is not a bad word, but this is not a time for compromise but courage,” Renzi said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Erik Schatzker.
“I respect the ideas of unions. In this case, we must absolutely invest” in a new labor market model to help spur employment, he said.
Renzi’s program to overhaul Italy’s 40-year-old labor laws, unclog the creaky court system and rein in a suffocating bureaucracy is bogged down in Parliament after sparking opposition from some members of his Democratic Party.
With an economy mired in its third recession since 2008 and an unemployment rate hovering around 12.6 percent, Renzi said the country’s labor laws are too rigid, particularly those regarding the firing of workers, and discourage investment.
Renzi’s planned job market overhaul is a good first step to increasing employment creation, said Patrick De Maeseneire, chief executive officer of Adecco SA, the world’s largest provider of temporary workers.
Right Direction
“I think it’s going in the right direction,” De Maeseneire said in an interview in Rome today. “It’s a signal to the political environment that reforms are absolutely needed here in order to get people back to work.”
On Sept. 16 Renzi said he won’t wait indefinitely and may resort to the alternative route of a decree to get his labor proposals passed into law.
In June, Renzi extended the timeframe for delivering on his promises, emphasizing that his horizon was a three-year period starting Sept. 1 and lasting until the end of Parliament’s current term.
“We must change Italy -- without reforms in Italy, we can’t change Europe,” he said yesterday. He also said his goal remains leading the current government until 2018, when the legislature expires. “Now is not the time to hold elections.”
He reiterated that lawmakers must revise the country’s electoral laws to come up with a system that produces a clear winner and more stable governments.
“Usually in Italy there is the traditional approach: OK we have a problem, we go to elections. No, we must change the electoral law to give a clear message about who is the winner and who is the loser.”
‘Good Decisions’
Renzi repeated his call for pro-growth policies in Europe and said European Central Bank President Mario Draghi made “good decisions” with his recent stimulus measures.
Draghi said this month that policy makers may embark on further measures to revive the region’s economy after they committed earlier to buying asset-backed securities and covered bonds. That may include a plan of broad-based government-bond purchases if needed, the ECB chief said.
“We will verify the results” of the measures already approved, Renzi said. He said it’s too early to say whether so-called quantitative easing might be needed.
“The European Central Bank isn’t the Federal Reserve, which has a lot of power,” the premier said. Regarding the Middle East, Renzi said the crisis in Libya merits more attention.
“We must fight against terrorism in Syria and Iraq with the international coalition, but also in other countries, for example Libya, and give a message of hope for these countries.”
bloomberg.com
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