‘An Italian accent for Europe’

Italy assumes the rotating presidency of the European Union on 1 July, taking over from Greece. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi plans to use the six-month presidency to reverse the austerity policies applied until now, writes La Croix.
For the French daily —

Galvanised by the Democratic Party’s historic victory in the European elections (in which it took 40.8 per cent of votes), Italy's Matteo Renzi has instigated a push against austerity. [...] He wants “a Europe that will change course to be less bureaucratic, and one that is more open to a flexible implementation of the Stability Pact which will give priority to jobs and young people, as well as growth and innovation”, explains Sandro Gozi, Italy’s Secretary of State for European Affairs. Social democratic leaders can count on the support of Spanish head of government, the conservative Mariano Rajoy, whose country has come out of recession without restoring employment. However, “Madrid does not want to annoy Berlin. It does not want to be visible or to be part of a coalition of southern countries against Germany,” underlines José Ignacio Torreblanca, head of the Madrid office of the European Council on Foreign Relations.