The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi has accused the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel of lying to the public about European unity. In a brutal attack on his fellow European Union (EU)
members,
Having been excluded from a joint news conference by the
German Chancellor, Mrs Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, he said
he was dissatisfied with the Bratislava summit's closing statement.
The outspoken Italian premier hit out at the lack of
commitments on the economy and immigration in the summit's conclusions, despite
signing it himself.
In a fiery interview in Italian daily Corriere della Sera,
Mr Renzi intensified his criticisms, although he remained vague on what
commitments he would have liked the summit to produce.
The Prime Minister has staked his career on a referendum
this autumn over plans for constitutional reform, promising to resign if he
loses.
Talking about his fellow leaders, he said: "If we want
to pass the afternoon writing documents without any soul or any horizon they
can do it on their own.
"I don't know what Merkel is referring to when she
talks about the 'spirit of Bratislava'.
"If things go on like this, instead of the spirit of
Bratislava we'll be talking about the ghost of Europe.
Mr Renzi said he is preparing a 2017 budget which he claims
will cut taxes despite a slowing economy and record high public debt.
He added: "At Bratislava we had a nice cruise on the
Danube, but I hoped for answers to the crisis caused by Brexit, not just to go
on a boat trip.
He was similarly belligerent about the Italian budget to be
presented next month, saying there would be "no negotiation" with
Brussels, and money he planned to spend on tackling immigration and making
Italy safer from earthquakes would be excluded from EU rules on deficit limits.
Other countries were more guilty than Italy of breaking
budget rules and Italy had met its commitments on tackling the inflows of
migrants crossing the Mediterranean, Renzi said.
-Express
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