Greece austerity measures deepened European recession: Italian PM

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta has slammed Europe for its handling of the Greek financial crisis, saying harsh austerity measures have deepened the recession and made unemployment worse across the continent.

“There is no doubt that serious mistakes were made about Greece by Europe in the past few years…. The timing was wrong. The instruments were wrong. The interventions were not made in the right way and at the right time and this worsened the crisis,” Letta said during a press conference with his Greek counterpart, Antonis Samaras, in Athens on Monday.

The Italian premier further criticized Greece’s bailout terms set by the European Union, European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying that “the crisis would have been different. It would have created less of a financial disaster, it would have led to fewer job losses across Europe if Europe’s attitude to Greece had been different at the beginning.”

The premier said Italy is prepared to stand by Greece as it emerges from an economic crisis, while insisting that Athens stick to reforms it has already pledged.

Letta also said the continental-wide economic recovery must be based on growth and employment, not simply austerity measures and spending cuts.

Europe plunged into financial crisis in early 2008. Insolvency now threatens heavily debt-ridden countries such as Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

The worsening debt crisis has forced EU governments to adopt harsh austerity measures and tough economic reforms, which have triggered incidents of social unrest and massive protests in many European countries.