MILAN — The man tapped to head a neutral government in Italy after two populists failed in their bid is a former official at the International Monetary Fund who is a firm believer in the euro and in the necessity of Italy cutting its stubbornly high-debt load. Carlo Cottarelli, an economist, has previous government experience under the short-lived centre-left government of Enrico Letta, tapped to identify areas where government spending could be trimmed. He found 32 billion euros ($37 billion) in cuts, but left embittered when the government soon changed hands at the obstacles he found within the bureaucracy resisting cuts. On Monday, President Sergio Mattarella tapped Cottarelli to try to form a government that can bring Italy to a new election, which Cottarelli said could come as early as this autumn. Cottarelli told Italy’s Radio Radicale two weeks ago that the two parties’ primary error was “making people in some way believe that without the euro, all problems would disappear.

Source: National Post May 28, 2018 11:45 UTC