Italian PM warns of the break-up of the Eurozone and the European Union

August 6, 2012 – ROME – The big news this morning is coming from an interview Italy’s Mario Monti gave to German magazine Der Spiegel, in which he warned that growing Italian resentment against Germany risks the break-up of not just the eurozone but the European Union itself. He said the eurozone tensions “bear the traits of a psychological dissolution of Europe,” adding that Europe “must work hard to contain it.” Asked about a strengthening in resentment between the allegedly profligate southern European nations and the bloc’s thrifty northern members, Monti told Der Spiegel “it is very alarming, and we have to fight against it. Yes, there is a front line in this area between north and south, there are reciprocal prejudices,” according to AP’s report of the interview. In the meantime, tensions between Germany and Italy appear to be on the rise. The news comes after an Italian newspaper splashed its front page on a photo of Angela Merkel with her arm raised and the headline “Quarto Reich.” Meanwhile, in an op-ed in Germany’s Bild Romano Prodi, a former Italian prime minister and president of the EU Commission, urged Germany to show “true leadership” in steering the continent through the crisis, saying the bloc’s biggest economy has the duty “to lead Europe toward a better future.” If Germany fails to lead through the crisis, it “would be the political end, for Europe and for Germany,” he insisted, urging Berlin to present a “clear action plan to achieve a democratic, federally structured Europe.” It is important to note that il Giornale is owned by Berlusconi. –Guardian