Italy's Tria Says Country Must Win Back Trust of Investors

(Bloomberg) -- Finance Minister Giovanni Tria singled out winning back the trust of investors as Italy’s priority, urging a push for long-term investments including a controversial alpine rail link project.

As France and Italy quarrel over alleged meddling by Rome’s populist leaders, Tria said in an interview with newspaper La Stampa that he saw “no economic motive” for a clash, although he pointed a finger at “French nationalism.”

Amid signs a recession that started late last year may persist, Tria insisted in the interview on the need to “re-establish confidence toward Italy, the trust of citizens and investors, Italian and foreign.” The populist coalition government has been swamped by a rash of negative economic data, including the European Commission’s slashing of this year’s growth forecast by a full percentage point.

Tria said Italy should “relaunch all public investments and reopen all building sites as soon as possible.” He reiterated that he believed the $10 billion Italy-France TAV high-speed rail link -- which populist coalition partners the League and the Five Star Movement are fighting over -- is “a useful project.”

The administration argues that its expansionary 2019 budget, which sparked a long standoff with the EU Commission last year, will end years of economic stagnation.

“The reality is that you cannot attract investments if, when contracts are signed, it can be legitimate to believe that a government, whatever it is, can put them in doubt, perhaps changing the legal framework retroactively,” said Tria. “Italy’s competitiveness and its real growth depend on investors’ trust.”

On the bilateral dispute with France, Tria said that there “there is a French nationalism -- seen at the time of the war in Libya -- which brings them to act without considering prior agreements with Europe.” But Italy always found more common ground with France than other countries on reform of the EU, he added.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Follain in Rome at jfollain2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Nikos Chrysoloras, Andrew Davis

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