Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said in an interview published Wednesday hours before hosting talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the two wanted growth but not at “the expense of budgetary discipline.” The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted Monti on its website as saying that after last Thursday’s Brussels EU summit the press should have written “Angela + Monti = a step forward for European economic policy.” The German daily said Monti rejected the impression that there had been deep differences between him and Merkel over debt mutualisation. He explained that while Italy had gone for growth, it was “not at the price of budgetary discipline” which is treasured by Merkel.
