Former Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has said that Italy could be forced to leave the Eurozone unless the European Central Bank gets more powers to lower borrowing costs for debt ridden member nations.
“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.
Berlusconi only recently revealed that he will again lead his People of Freedom party (PDL) in next February’s national elections. Current PM Mario Monti announced that he will resign from his position before the election throwing Italian policy into chaos. 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 30%, some 14 points above the PDL.
The former PM’s comments are likely to have little weight with other European leaders, after all it under his leadership that Italy began to experience recession after the economy contracted by 0.2% in the third quarter of 2011 and 0.7% in 2011’s fourth quarter.
The Pound to Euro exchange rate is currently trading at 1.2273
The Pound to US Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.6302
The Pound to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.5485
The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.3278
The Euro to Pound exchange rate is currently trading at 0.8143
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