PARIS (MNI) – France and Italy Friday underscored their fundamental
agreement on the way out of the Eurozone debt crisis.

Speaking to reporters after a bilateral meeting here, French
President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti
announced that they will meet on January 20 in Rome with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel to prepare for a meeting of Eurozone Finance
Ministers on January 23 and of EU heads of state on January 30.

“Italy and France share the identical view on the future of Europe
and the way to solve the crisis of confidence that is at the heart of
the Eurozone,” Sarkozy said.

In a veiled reference to his well-known belief that the European
Central Bank should intervene more aggressively in bond markets, Sarkozy
added that “all European institutions must take their responsibilities,”
just as all governments have had to. The comment was a pointed inversion
of the line often repeated by former ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet
that Eurozone governments “must live up to their responsibilities.”

Monti stressed that all member states must take the necessary steps
to consolidate their budgets and implement structural reforms. It is
also “essential” that all decisions be taken so that the confidence that
leaders have in the euro “will be shared by markets, which will allow
interest rates to decline to levels more in line with the real economy,”
the Italian leader added.

Speaking afterwards at a colloquium here, Sarkozy highlighted the
protective role that Europe must play for its citizens and its
companies. Europe’s new concept for trade must based on “reciprocity”
and reject “monetary dumping,” he said.

In order to resolve the Eurozone crisis, “we must take extremely
difficult and heavy decisions in the coming days,” the French president
said. “We do not have the right to let Europe fall and the euro be
destroyed.”

Sarkozy reiterated France’s desire to implement a tax on financial
transactions, even if the Eurozone goes it alone. The UK, with its huge
financial industry, is opposed to such a tax.

Sarkozy’s top policy adviser, Henri Guaino, said recently that
France was willing to spearhead the launch of such a tax on its own
while waiting for other Eurozone countries to join.

–Paris newsroom, +331-42-71-55-40; ssandelius@marketnews.com

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