If premier-in-waiting Matteo Renzi's gamble pays off he will use Italy's top job to accelerate reforms for European Union concessions on austerity targets, but many are wondering if he is biting off more than he can chew, dpa reported. Renzi has argued that Italy can challenge EU policies only if it cleans its house first. "We must ask Europe to change, but before we can do it, we should start implementing at home the reforms that we have put off for too long," Renzi wrote in the manifesto for the leadership of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) he won in December. In a manifesto last year, Renzi said that "if we start these reforms, Italian politics will give a good example. Then we will also be able to think about breaching" EU budget thresholds, which force euro members to keep their deficits below 3 per cent of gross domestic product. Renzi has dismissed the 3-per-cent rule as "outdated." But he acknowledged that Italy would have "the strength and credibility" to fight against "euro-austerity policies (which) have proven short-sighted and unsuitable for the economic recovery" only if it had a credible record of domestic reforms. It was a different approach to that of conservative former premier Silvio Berlusconi and protest party leader Beppe Grillo, who blame the country's ills on the euro and EU-prescribed austerity policies, overlooking national shortcomings. -- SPA 20:32 LOCAL TIME 17:32 GMT تغريد
