Samaras in Rome for talks with Monti

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is in Rome to meet his counterpart Mario Monti on a busy day of meetings for the Italian leader.

Samaras has met with several key eurozone leaders over the past few weeks as he attempts to convince them to make changes to Greece’s bailout program when European Union leaders meet on October 18.

Monti is also due to meet Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy on Friday, as well as Irish leader Edna Kenny.

Samaras and Kenny will be attending a meeting of the Centrist Democrat International in Rome.

The Italian government aims to cut the debt from 123.4 percent of GDP this year to 114.4 percent in 2015. It says it could fall to 100 percent of output in 2019 and 60 percent in 2025.

However, Italy’s growth prospects remain grim. The economy is forecast by to contract by around 2.5 percent this year. The OECD says Italy’s growth potential is now just 0.3 percent.

Πηγή: ekathimerini.com