Italian euro scepticism taking root

Ahead of Italian spring elections, due 9 April, prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s anti-euro rhetoric seems to be working in the battle against his main rival, former European Commission president Romano Prodi, who led Italy into the euro, the Financial Times suggested.

In June 2005, Italy became the first country to face disciplinary action under the EU's adjusted stability pact because of a ballooning budget deficit. At the same time the Italian Northern League party launched a campaign to revive Italy's old currency, the lira.

The party, which holds ministerial posts in Silvio Berlusoni's government, called for a revival of the lira as a "parallel currency" to the euro, which would remain the currency of the state budget, tourism and foreign trade.

The Italian opinion poll comes after the euro recently took a knock on fiscal rather than political grounds.

Frits Bolkestein, who served in the previous Prodi commission as internal market commissioner from 1999 to 2004, last week predicted that the common currency would face a huge test in around 10 years, when a pensions boom is likely to hit Europe.

The ageing of Europe's population will hit the continent "ruthlessly," the outspoken Dutch politician stated, pointing out euro zone states like Italy are unprepared for the expected jump in pension claims.

These states "will be forced by political pressure to borrow more and increase their budget deficit, with consequences for interest rates and inflation," he indicated.