European Commission President Barroso appealed to EU leaders not to give in to populism, after Italian voters roundly rejected the austerity policies pursued by outgoing prime minister Mario Monti.
Barroso said efforts to revive Europe's economy would take time and required determination. The fact Italian voters had turned Monti out of office did not mean his policies, or those advocated by the European Union, were wrong. "I hope we are not going to follow the temptation to give in to populism because of the results in one specific Member State", Barroso said of the EU's efforts to combat the sovereign debt crisis.
Monti won just 10 per cent of the vote in the recent poll, with Italians overwhelmingly backing the movements of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and comedian campaigner Beppe Grillo, both of whom reject EU-backed austerity.
Barroso said it was incumbent on all EU and eurozone countries, especially those receiving aid from the bloc's rescue funds, to retool their economies and cut deficits in an effort to improve competitiveness and stimulate growth.
Such a prescription had worked for Latvia and was showing results in Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Greece, he said, with current account deficits narrowing, unit labour costs falling and exports beginning to pick up. While the demands of austerity programmes, including deep spending cuts and changes to pensions and labour markets, were harsh and unpalatable to many, they were necessary, he said. "It is true that the economic policy that we are implementing in the EU because of the financial crisis is a real challenge for political leadership", Barroso acknowledged.
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