Reuters: World News: Italy PM Monti downplays Spain contagion risk

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Italy PM Monti downplays Spain contagion risk Mar 28th 2012, 07:27 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Japan goes off script at nuclear summit to slam North Korea Tue, Mar 27 2012 Euro crisis needs "mother of all firewalls": OECD Tue, Mar 27 2012 Merkel backs stronger firewall; Spain concerns grow Mon, Mar 26 2012 Italian stocks - Factors to watch on March 26 Mon, Mar 26 2012 Italy's Monti faces vital test on labor reform Tue, Mar 20 2012 Analysis & Opinion Today in the euro zone – Europe needs to ease on firewall obsession Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti speaks during a news conference at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul March 27, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Jason Lee TOKYO | Wed Mar 28, 2012 3:27am EDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Wednesday that he was not worried about economic troubles in Spain spreading to the rest of Europe, further downplaying comments he made over the weekend that Madrid's fiscal problems could reignite the euro zone debt crisis. "Spain, I'm sure, is on a steady course of budgetary consolidation," Monti told reporters in Tokyo where he arrived from a nuclear security summit in South Korea. "And contagion as a whole, I hope, will soon belong to the past now that more discipline has been adhered to by most member states, and now that the firewalls are being in the process of being fortified." Monti on Saturday had expressed concern about the state of finances in Spain and said it would not take much to reignite the euro zone debt crisis and revive the risk of it spreading to Italy. Few days later, however, he said he had "total confidence" in Madrid's economic management after meeting his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy on Tuesday on the sidelines of the nuclear summit in Seoul. Monti, who replaced beleaguered Silvio Berlusconi in November, rapidly pushed through austerity measures, while Spain shocked markets last month when it said it had missed its 2011 budget deficit target and set itself a softer goal for 2012. But with sense of fiscal emergency coming slightly off the boil in Italy, his recent drive to force through labor reform -considered crucial for economic revival- has run into opposition. Monti said labor reform was the fourth key theme for Italy after he tackled budgetary consolidation, pension reform and liberalization of the service sector. "Of course my view is that it is a bold and balanced package," Monti said of the plan, which makes it easier for firms to fire employees and gives them financial incentives to hire permanent workers rather than temporary staff. (Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Tomasz Janowski) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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