Italy risks potential losses of billions of euros on derivatives contracts it restructured at the height of the eurozone crisis, according to a confidential report by the Rome Treasury that sheds more light on the financial tactics that enabled the debt-laden country to enter the euro in 1999. ... Mario Draghi, now head of the European Central Bank, was director-general of the Italian Treasury at the time ... Gustavo Piga, an Italian economics professor, caused a storm in 2001 when he obtained one such derivatives contract taken out in 1996 and accused EU countries of “window-dressing” their accounts. ... Last year Der Spiegel, a German magazine, obtained official documents which it said demonstrated that in 1998 Helmut Kohl, then chancellor, decided for political reasons to ignore warnings from his experts that Italy was believed to be “dressing” up its accounts and would not meet the Maastricht treaty criteria for entry, including a budget deficit less than 3 per cent.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 07:37:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015