
Italy - Berlusconi, who announced this month he will again lead his People of Freedom
party (PDL) in a national election expected in February, said on a talk-show on
state broadcaster RAI that the ECB should become a lender of last resort for the
currency bloc.
"If Germany doesn't accept that the ECB must be a real central bank, if
interest rates don't come down, we will be forced to leave the euro and return
to our own currency in order to be competitive," Berlusconi said in comments
reported by Italian news agencies Ansa and Agi.
The 76-year-old media tycoon has made similar remarks in the past about the
possibility of Italy, or even Germany, leaving the euro, but has often at least
partially rectified them later, Reuters reported.
Berlusconi is already campaigning hard for the election with a spate of
television interviews in an attempt to close the wide gap with the centre-left
Democratic Party which is polling at above 30pc, some 14 points above the PDL.
Berlusconi was forced to resign as prime minister in November last year as
Italian bond yields surged at the height of the euro zone debt crisis
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