Italy agrees to liberalise economy

Feature cover developments in the eurozone debt crisis on the 5 August 2011.

Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister, and Giulio Tremonti, Finance Minister, held several hours of emergency talks in which they agreed to speed up a package of measures to liberalise the economy.

Separately, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France held a telephone calls with Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, in an effort to agree a co-ordinated response to the turmoil in eurozone financial markets.

Separately, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn returned to Brussels and gave a talk to the press at which he apologised for 'bad communication' that might have added fuel to the burning euro zone crisis.

Spiegel Online International, 5.8.11: Panic Hits Global Markets http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,778556,00.html

ESO: Background information: Markets force Berlusconi to break silence http://www.europeansources.info/record/markets-force-berlusconi-to-break-silence-berlusconi-says-italy-will-survive-crisis/

ESO: Background information: European leaders feel the strain http://www.europeansources.info/record/european-leaders-feel-the-strain/

Deutsche Welle, 5.8.11: Europe talks crisis prevention amid market turmoil http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15297598,00.html

BBC News, 5.8.11: Europe shares fall as global share sell-off continues http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14416204

France24, 5.8.11: Europe closes down amid global market rout http://www.france24.com/en/20110805-europe-closes-down-amid-global-market-rout-stock-exchanges-financial-crisis-usa

EUObserver, 5.8.11: Brussels: Loose talk, fear and greed to blame for crisis http://euobserver.com/9/32687

EurActiv, 5.8.11: Rehn admits Commission failings http://www.euractiv.com/en/euro-finance/rehn-admits-commission-failings-news-506917

European Commission: RAPID: SPEECH/11/540: Olli Rehn European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Ongoing developments in the eurozone Press Conference Brussels, 5 August 2011 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/11/540&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

---