Austerity Only Benefits Germany and Destroys Europe, Renzi Says
- Italian Prime Minister blasted EU budget rules from New York
- Renzi’s tough language comes as Italian economy, banks falter
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Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had some fighting words for German leader Angela Merkel: Your obsession with austerity is strangling Europe and your country is the only one profiting.
That view, held by others in the European Union, rarely gets aired publicly quite so forcefully. Especially by Renzi, who until recently had deployed priceless ancient Roman art and Ferraris in some of Merkel’s recent visits to Italy. But Brexit, which exposed cracks in the European project, has made the EU more vulnerable to jabs.