eurealist.co.uk

After yesterdays revelation that German economics minister Hans Eichel held a meeting to discuss the consequences of scrapping the euro, today there is news that a minister in the Italian Government has said that Italy should also consider leaving the euro.

In Germany the largest selling news paper Bild carried the headline earlier this week“ Is the Mark coming back?”. Eichel however when interviewed in the FT, strongly denied that Germany is considering scrapping the euro.

(Reuters) - Italy should consider leaving the single currency and reintroducing the lira, Welfare Minister Roberto Maroni said in a newspaper interview on Friday.
Maroni, a member of the euro-skeptical Northern League party, told the Repubblica daily Italy should hold a referendum to decide whether to return to the lira, at least temporarily.
He also said European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was one of those chiefly responsible for the “disaster of the euro.”
The euro “has proved inadequate in the face of the economic slowdown, the loss of competitiveness and the job crisis,” Maroni said.
In this situation, the answer is to give the government greater power to defend national industry from foreign competition and “to give control over the exchange rate back to the government.”